LOMA Q4 2016: Who is the capital’s top office agent?

CBRE has taken the top spot in EG’s London office agents league table for a record fourth year.

Disposing of 3.7m sq ft of space in 2016, the big green machine comfortably took the top spot. It finished the year 1.2m sq ft ahead of Cushman & Wakefield in second place, despite the boost to its take-up from its merger with DTZ, toppling JLL off its usual spot.

Despite a tumultuous year for the London office market, CBRE’s victory was pretty unanimous. The US giant acted on both the big ticket deals, including the year’s largest – the Barclays sublet of 536,398 sq ft to the Government Property Unit at 10 South Colonnade, E14, and 500,000 sq ft to Apple at Battersea Power Station, SW8 – as well as acting on a huge number of smaller deals, taking most of the submarkets.

Rounding out the top three, Knight Frank managed to take third place in the table, jointly acting on the Apple letting, and was the sole agent on the Thomson Reuters sublet of 300,000 sq ft at 5 Canada Square, E14, back in March.

JLL slips from second place

Last year’s number two, JLL, meanwhile came in fourth, disposing of 1.9m sq ft, its biggest deal being the 182,635 sq ft letting of Bracken House, EC4, to the Financial Times.

There were, in the end, 37 disposals over 50,000 sq ft, 15 of which were in Q4, as occupiers emerged from the woodwork when it became clear that there would not be any economic meltdown, and that leaving the EU would take a very long time.

“While certain sectors are more affected by an EU exit, the majority are not and that is apparent in the demand patterns,” says Chris Vydra, executive director and head of City leasing at CBRE.

“We were coming to the end of the cycle, and the referendum halted it more quickly than it would have, but the market has now settled. For tenants, being in or out of the EU is just one of a number of macro challenges on the horizon.”

2016 overall league table

TOP AGENTS COVERING 2016

2016 overall acquisitions

TOP AGENTS COVERING 2016

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LONDON OFFICES MARKET ANALYSIS Q4 2016  

• Analysis – offices drop by 25% but rate of descent slows

• Who is London’s top office agent?

• London offices breakdown by submarket

• London office investment down by 25% in 2016

• Who is London’s top Q4 agent?

• Four things you need to know about the London offices market

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