Central Leeds take-up nudges 100,000 sq ft in Q2
After a bumper Q1 saw close to 250,000 sq ft let, the market fell back to earth, with the Leeds Office Agents Forum reporting 99,348 sq ft of city centre office space transacted across 23 deals in 2024’s second quarter.
As reported by Place Yorkshire, the largest deal of the year so far came with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust signing for 43,731 sq ft of offices at J Pullan & Sons’ Joseph’s Well.
Other notable deals included the 7,106 sq ft sale of Victoria Foundry, part of Holbeck’s Round Foundry, to Impex Parts and a 6,770 sq ft letting at 4 Wellington Place to financial heavyweight Allianz.
At the halfway point of 2024, city centre office take-up totalled 348,332 sq ft, a decline of 15% compared to the same period in 2023.
Last year’s full-year figure topped out at 651,461 sq ft, the highest figure since the Covid pandemic. The 249,703 sq ft let in Q1 gives the market a good chance of matching the 2023 figure.
Chris Hartnell, partner at Carter Jonas, said that a lack of new space is leading to strong competition for the best remaining space and pushing rents upward:
“We have continued to witness a race for some of the best remaining city centre space, with only Vastint delivering new buildings at Aire Park.
“In the city centre, we saw prime rents of £38 per sq ft once again achieved and the forum believes it will only be a matter of time before £40 per sq ft is reached as the relatively limited supply of new offices tightens further.”
The Leeds out-of-town market experienced an uptick in occupier activity compared to the previous quarter, with 46,752 sq ft of office space taken up across 25 deals.
The largest deal to complete was at Turnberry Park in Gildersome, where logistics company Future Forwarding took 6,105 sq ft.
Matt Procter, senior surveyor at LSH, said: “In contrast to the city centre, healthy supply levels exist in the out-of-town market, although rents can vary quite dramatically. Notwithstanding this, a strong rent of £24 per sq ft was achieved, and we saw a good number of deals from a broad range of occupiers concluded.”
Members of the Leeds Office Agents Forum include Avison Young, BNP Paribas Real Estate, Bowcliffe, Carter Towler, Carter Jonas, CBRE, Colliers, Cushman & Wakefield, Fox Lloyd Jones, JLL, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Sanderson Weatherall, Savills and WSB.
