Cranes are back in Manchester city centre but office rents are starting to rise as the commercial property market’s recovery gathers pace.
Drivers Jonas Deloitte’s annual Manchester Crane Survey, published today, shows development activity has increased from 12 months ago, with 11 new starts recorded compared with just five in 2010.
Cranes are visible around the city, with building work under way at King Street, at the former Boddingtons Brewery and around the Co-op’s new headquarters on Miller Street.
Drivers Jonas Deloitte says much of the construction activity is accounted for by hotels and student housing, as several major schemes emerge on the city’s southern fringes.
These include including Unite’s £4m Arch Bar development and more than 1,200 student beds in and around Oxford Road being granted planning permission.
Adam Robson, senior surveyor from Drivers Jonas Deloitte, said: “The lack of new office development provides fertile ground for new opportunities in 18 to 24 months’ time, once existing supply has been eaten up. With nothing on the horizon post-2011, large occupiers could soon be considering pre-lets.”
The research comes as statisticians at surveyors DTZ calculate that commercial property occupiers in Manchester saw their office costs fall three per cent during 2010.
They predict modest rises in the years ahead.
They calculate it costs businesses an average of £4,750 for each desk they have in the city centre.Rob Yates, director of DTZ’s office agency in Manchester, said: “Once again, Manchester features as a good value-for-money location in terms of overall business cost.”
However, costs are expected to rise. Paul Spratt, director of DTZ’s landlord and tenant team, said: “Our research suggests that occupancy costs in Manchester will rise by 1.86 per cent per annum between 2011 and 2015 and, although occupiers in regional cities such as Manchester and Liverpool can continue to benefit from financial incentives from landlords in most markets, the window of opportunity is closing.
“Many sectors of the market in Manchester and the north west will face shortages of stock during the anticipated lag between confidence recovering and the supply of new development catching up.
“Where shortages emerge, this will feed into rental growth.”
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thanks deloitte i was wondered when them giant metal arms were
Blah blah blah
I was going to take my binoculars into the city to observe the long-legged and long necked birds; until I read the story.
So that's what a crane looks like? Whodathoughtit!
The cranes have never left and some are in a dangerous state due to lack of maintenance. And have they not noticed the hundreds of empty offices up for let or sale all over Manchester. These people must be on the same stuff as Chairman Leese.
There have been two cranes on the site at the junction of Princess street and Whitworth street for a couple of years now, they haven't moved an inch in all that time.
Reminds me of stories I read years ago in East German papers! Tractor production up!!! A non news story if there ever was.
What a nonsense, Manchester City rents are controlled by a small number of property companies aided by the leading surveyor agencies. Its a cartel in every sense of the word. I am surprised why the Manchester evenings journalist haven't picked on this issue or are they too feeding from the same trough.
Oh great........Bob The Builder is in town.....................
Anual Manchester Crane survey. Who pays for this to be carried out. How about when they've done that, counting the road cones