Manchester
Take-up
TOTAL TAKE-UP IN QUARTER (SQ FT)
CHANGE ON LAST QUARTER
CHANGE ON 10 YR QUARTERLY AVG
TAKE-UP (SQ FT)
Source: Avison Young
Q4 take-up reached 444,000 sq ft, which was 30% down on the previous quarter and 18% down on the 10-year quarterly average of 543,000 sq ft.
Driven by a strong Q3, annual volumes reached 1.9m sq ft, this is marginally down on 2m sq ft reached in 2023 but 11% below the 10-year annual average.
Key Q4 deals included:
- Virgin Media’s 46,000 sq ft lease at Island;
- VCAD’s 20,000 sq ft lease at Bridgewater House;
- Deloitte’s 20,000 sq ft letting at 100 Embankment.
The sectors driving demand in the Manchester market last year were Financial, Professional and TMT & Creative firms, all taking a 14% share each.
Channel 4 set the prime rental tone for the Manchester market in Q4, hitting £45.00 per sq ft at No, 1 St Michaels. This reflects quarterly growth of 2% and annual growth of 5%. Rent frees remain at 27 months on a 10 year lease.
NOTABLE DEALS
Source: Avison Young
PRIME RENT
Per sq ft
Quarterly Change
Source: Avison Young
12 month change
Rent free months (10-year lease)
TAKE-UP BY SECTOR
Source: Avison Young
ANNUAL TAKE-UP (SQ FT)
Source: Avison Young
Availability
AVAILABILITY RATE
CHANGE ON LAST QUARTER
CHANGE ON LAST YEAR
AVAILABILITY (SQ FT)
Source: CoStar, Avison Young
The availability rate increased to 9.4% in Q4 however remains below levels seen 12 months ago. Premium quality space remains undersupplied, with the grade A availability rate at 3%.
Development pipeline
DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE (SQ FT)
Source: Avison Young/PMA
In 2024, a total of 620,000 sq ft of space was completed in Manchester, the largest of which was 175,000 sq ft at 4 New Bailey. The English Cities development was fully pre-let to the telecoms provider BT. This year, we expect 880,000 sq ft of new and refurbished space to complete, 185,000 sq ft of which is pre-let at Jackson Row.
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