Property leaders say the massive investment in Manchester City Centre is paying dividends in attracting national and international businesses to the city – and they hope there’s more to come.
The latest figures from the Manchester Office Agents Forum (MOAF) showed that in the third quarter, 432,619 sq ft of city centre office space was let across 51 transactions, giving a big boost to the annual total. Almost 1m sq ft has been let in the year so far – with 46% of take up coming in Q3.
The quarter also saw the two largest transactions in the year, with the letting of 4 Angel Square (196,443 sq ft) to BNY Mellon and ARM’s deal for three floors in 1 St Michaels (68,860 sq ft).
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MOAF has predicted a “strong take-up” for the rest of the year and expected the annual total to top 1.3m – eclipsing the five and 10-year average figures of 1.1m and 1.2m respectively.
Steve Brittle, partner at property consultancy Fisher German’s Manchester office, said: “The increase of 100,000 sq ft in deals compared to the previous quarter was predominantly due to the major letting to the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation which is the largest regional ‘big six’ letting recorded over the last four years.
“This highlights the attraction and pull of Manchester as a city to corporate occupiers wanting to consolidate and expand their presence in the city along with the high-quality space that is available.
“The massive amount of investment in Manchester city centre in recent years in terms of re-development, refurbishment of office buildings and inward investment from the private and public sector is paying huge dividends in the calibre of businesses and organisations that now want to make the city their home or expand here."
Mr Brittle said occupiers were also looking more at Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements when it came to office space. He added: "Acquiring office space that supports health, sustainability and transparency helps attract and retain top talent and is now considered to be a crucial factor when moving into a new base.
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“We expect the final quarter of 2024 to be positive with the deals that are currently in the pipeline, and the office market in Manchester City Centre has demonstrated a robust performance to date and the evidence of larger footprint transactions is encouraging.”
In South Manchester, the market has witnessed a take up of 81,910 sq ft over 59 deals during Q3 which was a slight increase on the Q2 figure. The Q3 figure brings the transactions to date to 254,021 sq ft for 2024.
Steve said: “The South Manchester market has been consistent throughout the year with levels and number of transactions being similar in each quarter. We expect that to continue for the remainder of the year and into 2025.”
Announcing the Q3 survey results last month, Rob Yates, head of office agency at Cushman & Wakefield and MOAF chairman said: “Manchester’s office market continued to perform robustly, the return of larger lettings is particularly pleasing. The letting of 4 Angel Square is the largest regional ‘big six’ transaction recorded in the last 4 years. This illustrates the pull of Manchester to major occupiers seeking to consolidate and expand their footprint in Manchester.
“We continue to see a diminishing supply of readily available Grade A space and robust demand for the best space. Given the lack of speculative development we expect to see a supply and demand imbalance in 2025. This issue will be further magnified when a number of high-profile transactions completed in Q4.”
MOAF also discussed the out-of-town market in Q3, where Salford Quays and Old Trafford saw 15 completed transactions totalling 35,134 sq ft.
John Nash, Canning O’Neill, said: “The out of town markets have been incredibly consistent through 2024 with similar transaction numbers and take up throughout each quarter of the year. Take up remains down on historic 5 year averages for these markets with larger lettings proving more difficult to secure. However, with reduced void and increasing rental levels in the city centre, the argument to look out of town is likely to become even more compelling.”
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MOAF is made up of Avison Young, BE Group, CBRE, Colliers International, Canning O’Neill, Cushman & Wakefield, Edwards, Fisher German, Hallam Property Consultants, JLL, Knight Frank, LSH, OBI, Savills and Sixteen.
Earlier this month, Avison Young reported that the big cities of the North saw a boost in office take-up levels in Q3 as appetite for “best in class” space continues to grow – though there were still fears about levels of Grade A stock.
Also this month, investment bank Cavendish announced its Manchester expansion with a new office at No.1 St Michaels.
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