May 2019 saw a total of 13.3m sq ft of London office space under construction across 98 developments. 60 percent of this space has already been let or is under offer, the highest level to be achieved in over 15 years. This is according to new data from real estate advisor CBRE. Take-up of office space rose above the 10-year average in May 2019, increasing to 1.2m sq ft. There were eighty transactions, of which twelve were greater than 20,000 sq ft in size. The largest deal of the month saw the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development take 358,700 sq ft at Five Bank Street (pictured). (more…)

Hong Kong Central and London’s West End held onto their top spots in a ranking of the most expensive office market locations in the world at $322 and $220.70 per sq. ft. per year respectively according to the latest Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs report from CBRE. The ten most expensive markets were the same markets as last year, though several have changed positions within the top category. The biggest gainer within the top 10 was Midtown Manhattan ($196.89) in New York City, which climbed to the fourth most expensive market this year from the sixth last year. London City retained its number 10 position on the list at $139.75 per sq. ft. (more…)

New office building in central London is at a three-year high, with 13.2 million square feet of space under construction, up 12 percent on the figure six months ago, according to the Deloitte Real Estate’s London Office Crane Survey. Some 55 percent of the office space under construction was already let and for larger schemes of over 100,000 square feet, more than three quarters was already committed to, Deloitte said. The survey covers seven major central London office markets – The City, West End, Docklands, King’s Cross, Midtown, Paddington, Southbank – as well as three emerging submarkets – Vauxhall-Nine Elms-Battersea, White City and Stratford. (more…)