City lettings becoming stronger

Reports this week show that city commercial occupiers are ready to sign on over 250,000 sq ft of office space. This is yet another signal of the strong start to the year London’s office space market has had.

Markit, a financial services firm are currently agreeing terms on British Land’s Ropemaker, a 586,000 sq ft EC2 site. They are set to sign a lease on 80,000 sq ft of the premises, with an option to extend to an extra 20,000 at a later date.

Another company posed to move is law firm Stephenson Harrow. They are interested in at least three sites of around 150,000 sq ft of office space.  They were forced to move from their head quarters in St Martins’ 150 Cheapside, EC2 as another company Daiwa is closing a deal for 120,000 sq ft of space. Stephenson’s options include Parkhouse, owned by PRUPIM, 1 Finsbury Circus owned by Hermes’ Real Estate and Menolly’s 107 Cheapside. All the potential sites are in the EC2 area of London.

50,000 sq ft of office space at the London Stock Exchange has been taken by Banco Espirito Santo, a Portugese bank. They are set to lease the space at the building on 10 paternoster Square for ten years, with three years rent free. They are reported to be paying £40 per sq ft for the space.

Demand has been increasingly high during the economic recovery in the capital, where new developments were put on hold during the recession. The commercial property industry is certainly in full swing again with current trends and the fierce competition for space proving that London is the place to be.