James Young, head of the company's London office, says the UK is coming out of the recession. "Businesses are prepared to make decisions now on where they want to be located," he says. "There's a lot of talk about rising rents and improving deals, and constraints on supply from the lack of development. I think at the moment most developers with large potential properties are looking for preleasing. Funding is still constrained, so most developers are trying to identify tenants first as opposed to building speculative."
The city's vacancy rate dropped down to 7.7% from 8.25% in Q4 2009, according to company officials. Rents have also risen almost 14% to $78 per square foot, a level not seen since 2008. George Roberts with Cushman said there's greater willingness from tenants to actively consider longer term plans. "However, such plans continue to be very much centered around opportunities to relocate stemming from breaks and expiries rather than out of a need to accommodate increased head count."
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