Brum office take-up soaring, says Savills
Take-up of prime office space in Birmingham could exceed 450,000 sq ft for 2011 once final numbers are calculated, according to research from property agency Savills.
If this level is hit, the figure will be the highest recorded in the city since 2008.
"Boosted by a good third quarter, take-up so far in 2011 was 328,031 sq ft in the prime core," said the report. "This is 23 per cent up on the same time in last year and a 4 per cent increase on the final 2010 figures."
Savills said there had been only seven deals over 15,000 sq ft in 2011, making up 20 per cent of take-up and reflecting a bias towards the smaller end of the market.
Grade A supply continued to fall and accounted for 52 per cent of total supply at the end of Q3 2011.
This is down from 67 per cent in 2009, a drop which Savills said is partly attributable to a lack of development completions.
Birmingham's vacancy rate has now fallen from its peak of 17.6 per cent at the end of 2009 to 15.7 per cent at the 2011 year-end.
