As supply dwindles in all of the UK’s major office markets, could now be the time for developers to start building speculatively?
Office space is running out. And fast. The latest data from EGi shows that across the UK’s major cities there is just 41m sq ft of available office space.
The major cities all have less than four years’ supply left. London and Birmingham have less than two years. And with occupier demand increasing, office space being lost to residential under permitted development rights, and the planning system continuing to be a long and slow process, is now the time for developers to start building speculatively?
According to EGi senior researcher Graham Shone, the issue of availability is particularly worrisome in the regional cities. “Take-up has dropped by one-fifth across key cities as the office availability squeeze in the regions begins to mirror London’s supply-strangled market,” he said. “Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham have all seen drastic reductions in availability rates.”
