Office vacancies down
Take up of office space in Birmingham in the prime core was 212,006 sq ft in the first half of 2010. This is a marked increase of 63 per cent on the first half of 2009, according to Savills.
The vacancy rate is also improving, and has decreased to 17.1 per cent, down from its peak in 2009 of 17.6 per cent.
The public sector was the dominant business sector in the first half of 2010, accounting for 38 per cent of take up.
In the wider central business district, take up totalled 284,813 sq ft. The latest half year statistics show that 49 per cent of the prime take up was grade A.
Nick Williams, director at Savills, said: "We predict that the lack of a development pipeline in Birmingham will have a positive impact on supply going forward. Between 2012 and 2014 we expect the vacancy rate to decrease drastically creating increased rental growth.
“With the current lack of debt funding we don't anticipate significant new development until 2012 with actual delivery from 2013 onwards."
Rents in the Birmingham office market have stable over the last year at an average of £25.
