Jones Lang LaSalle's Director of City Agency, Martin Wallace said: "The amount of space acquired to date in 2002 is at its lowest level for over 15 years. Occupiers now control a majority of the immediately available supply and there is a relatively large amount of new space under construction for delivery in the next 18 months." And this is now having an impact on rents. "An increasingly competitive pricing environment now exists for the limited number of currently active tenants who are willing and able to acquire office accommodation," Wallace said.
But the picture is somewhat brighter in the West End. Although the vacancy rate rose over the latest quarter from 5.4% to 5.8% JLL's Director of West End Agency Robert Skioldebrand said: "Whilst overall the levels of activity are significantly down from 18 months ago, the West End office market has seen a few encouraging signs of life following a particularly quiet summer period. " But he warned: "A few isolated examples of aggressive rent-cutting by landlords may begin to emerge as competition intensifies. Downward pressures on rents and increasing tenant incentives confirm the strong negotiating position currently enjoyed by occupiers across the board."
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.