2025年第四季度东南部和大伦敦办公楼租赁概览

Leasing Overview •The South East office market closed the year positively with665,350 sq ft leased during the final quarter. Although this was15% below the five-year quarterly average, this meant that leasingvolumes reached 3.4m sq ft, up 8% on 2024 and reflecting thestrongest performance since 2019. •Significantly, 356 deals completed over the past 12 months. This isthe highest total during a year in our records. •Occupier activity in 2025 was led by the Financial and BusinessServices (FSB) sector, which accounted for 26% of total take-up,followed by the TMT sector at 23%. •Active demand across the market at year end totalled 3.95msq ft, with Financial and Business Services requirements againrepresenting 26% of this pipeline, underlining the sector’ssustained influence on future leasing activity. •Grade A accommodation accounted for 79% of all take-up in 2025,underscoring the continued flight to quality and the strength ofdemand for modern, efficient and amenity rich buildings. •Availability continued to tighten across the market during Q4 2025.Total availability decreased to 16.2m sq ft, compared with 16.5msq ft at the start of the year. The contraction in supply was mostevident in the prime segment. New and Grade A availability fell to10.42m sq ft, a 3.3% reduction over the past twelve months. UNDER CONSTRUCTION(SQ FT) •Vacancy levels also moved lower. Overall vacancy reached 10.2%in Q4 2025, improving from 10.5 % in Q4 2024. Grade A vacancydecreased from 7.1% to 6.6% over the same period, highlightingcontinued demand for modern and efficient buildings and growingcompetition for premium space. •The development pipeline remained limited. At Q4 2025, 1.8msq ft was under construction, with completion scheduled for thenext 24-36months. Notably, Cambridge and West London accountfor 61% of the speculative total currently under construction. •Headline rents continued to show upward movement acrossmuch of the market in 2025, with 40% of markets in the SouthEast registering an uplift. Across the leading markets, Cambridgeand Oxford registered the highest rental growth at 27% and 16%respectively, highlighting the willingness of occupiers to pay toprents for the best space. Knight Frank View 2025 should be labelled as the year the highest annual take up figures since 2019 (pre-covid)were achieved. Whilst deal size has not surprisingly reduced, occupiers’ appetite for ‘best inclass amenity rich assets’ is as clear as it’s ever been. Rental premiums to reflect this quality hasbeen backed up within deals by record headline rents being achieved across multiple South Eastmarkets. With a greater degree of confidence now behind occupier active, our attention turns tothe development pipeline. Markets such as West London and Cambridge monopolise a significantpercentage of the current development pipeline. Outside of these markets, the pipeline lookstight. As market confidence continues to build, this surely must be the trigger for the next phase ofdevelopment to be committed in selected South East locations. Roddy AbramPartner Office Head+44 7899 001 028roddy.abram@knightfrank.com Investment Overview •Investment volumes across the South East and Greater Londonregistered further improvement in the final quarter, with£425m of assets traded, marking the highest quarterly totalrecorded for 12 months. •This meant that over the year, volumes stood at £1.3bn, 25%lower than in 2024 but on par with the total from 2023. Notably,112 deals completed during 2025, 15% higher than the ten yearaverage and just one fewer than in 2024. Looking ahead, afurther £430m of assets were under offer at the end of the year,with an additional £500m currently being actively marketed. •Average deal size though was down to £11m, the lowest since2009. During the year, only two deals completed over £50mand twelve deals completed over £25m. This is five fewer thanin 2024. •The key transaction of the final quarter was also the highestvalue transaction of the year. This was Frasers sellingChineham Park in Basingstoke for £90m to CenterbridgePartners and Anglesea Capital. The only other deal in 2025exceeding £50m was Iroko Zen’s £58m acquisition of One LyricSquare in Hammersmith. •During 2025, the market was dominated by private equity andproperty companies largely derived from the UK. Combined,these two buyer types accounted for 76% of investmentvolumes. We anticipate this dynamic will shift over the next 12months, as both overseas and UK institutional investors lookfor alternative sources of value amid global market volatility.In this environment, UK commercial real estate is increasinglyviewed as offering stability and attractive long-term cashflows. •Prime office yields in the South East remained at 7.00% inQ4, reflecting a notable spread relative to London benchmarks.The disparity is particularly evident when compared withyields of 5.25% in the City and 3.75% in the West End,highlighting attractive opportunities for investors seekingva