Savills research also reveals that Manchester office take-up in the first three quarters of the year totalled 943,504 sq ft, 28% higher than the same period in 2023. This represents a 23% increase against the five year average and 10% increase on the 10 year average. The international real estate advisor forecasts that 2024 will be a record post-Covid year of take-up reaching a total of 1.3m sq ft, exceeding 2022 office take-up recorded at 1.2m sq ft.

The largest deal of the quarter in Manchester, and the Big 6 regional office markets (Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester), was at 4 Angel Square, where Bank of New York Mellon has taken 197,000 sq ft.

The international real estate advisor notes that, whilst there continues to be strong demand for quality office space, there is limited development in the region, which will create a supply / demand imbalance moving forwards. As a result of this and occupiers continuing to seek best-in-class office space, Savills expects rents to see some upward pressure with £45psf being achieved in Q4 2024.

Richard Lowe, a director in the Office Agency team at Savills Manchester, states: “Driven by some significant deals, the Manchester office market has seen a substantial increase in take-up activity this year underlining the strong fundamentals of the city as a business destination. As we move forwards however, there will be challenges around the supply of new stock given the low levels of development beyond what is currently in the ground, which will likely result in occupiers turning to high quality refurbished stock.”