Manchester Office Agents Forum reports strong Q1 2012 take-up

The Manchester Office Agents Forum (MOAF) has released take-up figures for the first quarter of 2012, revealing a 14 per cent increase in City centre office take up on the same period last year. MOAF research also records a 35 per cent take-up increase in South Manchester, a staggering 62% increase in Warrington and a 37% increase in the combined Salford Quays & Trafford Park marketplace. This latest release of figures by Manchester’s office agents follows a notable up-tick in office deals completed during the last quarter of 2011 and justifies claims made at the start of the year that an office market recovery in Manchester is now slowly underway.

Q1 City Centre office take-up totaled 167,891 sq ft, an increase on the 126,521 sq ft of deals recorded in the same period last year, whilst in South Manchester office take up was 135,832 sq ft, an increase from 87,094 sq ft in the same period during 2011.

Warrington saw Q1 take up reach 41,469 sq ft, an increase of 62 per cent on the same period in 2011, while the figure in Salford Quays and Trafford Park was 51,886 sq ft – an increase of 37 per cent on the same period last year.

The most notable City Centre transactions in the first quarter were QBE’s acquisition of 6,820 sq ft at Chancery Place, lettings to Amey, Hempsons and Hays at City Tower, which together totaled 40,000 sq ft and the sale of the 13,320 sq ft Courthouse scheme  to the Oddfellows.

In South Manchester, Aecom acquired 16,137 sq ft at Parkfield House, Altrincham whilst at Park Square Cheadle, Jacobs and Wellspun both took space totaling 25,000 sq ft.

Peter Gallagher, spokesman for the Manchester Office Agents Forum (MOAF) and partner at p3 property consultants llp is optimistic:

“The take-up figures for Q1 2012 confirms a positive start to the year. The City Centre is generally a much more active market place - there were 61 deals recorded in Q1 2012 compared with just 38 during the same period last year. With viewings and enquiries also up on the same period in 2011, we are confident that demand will remain strong throughout the rest of the year, and that over the year we will exceed the total take-up figures for 2011.” 

AREA	Q1 TAKE-UP (SQ.FT.)		The Manchester Office Agents Forum (MOAF) exists to promote better knowledge of the Manchester City Region office market providing accurate market statistics and informed market commentary. Formed in 2009 its’ current members include CBRE, Canning O’Neill, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ, Drivers Jonas Deloitte, Edwards & Co, GVA Ltd, Jones Lang LaSalle, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, p3 property consultants llp, Savills, WHR, Matthews & Goodman, BNP Paribas and OBI.
Manchester City Centre	167,891
South Manchester	135,832
Salford Quays	11,318
Old Trafford	40,559
TOTAL	355,600

April 2012