National commercial property consultancy, Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH), has released its Q3 office statistics for the Thames Valley, highlighting a shortage of grade A office stock across the region.
Headlines for the Q3 results* are:
· Office take-up in Q3 totalled 510,697 sq ft, down from the 610,253 sq ft recorded in the same period of 2010.
· However, total office take-up in the year to date equates to 1,243,432 sq ft – an increase of 32% when compared to the end Q3 2010 total of 943,755 sq ft.
· Total Thames Valley office supply (above 5,000 sq ft) at the end of Q3 2011 stands at 11.25m sq ft. This represents a fall of 6.8% against the 12.07m sq ft of supply this time last year.
· Grade A office supply in the region totals 3.39m sq ft – 27% of all availability. This is a fall of 12% from last year’s total at the end of Q3, when 3.86m sq ft of grade A space was available.
Nick Coote, Head of LSH’s Thames Valley team which spans offices in Reading, Maidenhead, Oxford, Guildford and London, commented: “The quality vs supply dynamic is becoming an increasing issue for the Thames Valley’s office market. While we are seeing take-up quickly reducing the available stock, there is limited replacement product in sight. Over the coming year we hope to see commercial property investors becoming braver, and occupiers relocating due to lease events or resizing of their business operations are likely to struggle when it comes to acquiring the best quality space.”
* All data reflects take-up and availability above 5,000 sq ft.