Large companies like Google and Royal Dutch Shell are looking at large available office spaces in the London area, raising hopes that the office real estate market may begin to bounce back from rising vacancies and falling rents.

Property agent Cushman & Wakefield stated that Google is looking for about 145,000 sq ft of office space, while the oil company, Shell, is searching for around 220,000 sq ft in London.

Guy Taylor, a Cushman & Wakefield property agent, said that at the beginning of 2009 there were many occupiers who claimed to be looking for properties without taking action to obtain any. However, now many people are looking at how much value is in acting now while occupiers have a larger bargaining margin.

In just the third quarter take-up of offices to rent London has risen by about 65%, compared to the second quarter, when rents hit close to rock bottom, the lowest rates in over a decade.

The new increase in demand for office space is set to place some of the key UK office landlords back in a powerful position including Hammerson, Land Securities, and British Land.

Outside of Google and Shell, Centaur media the business publisher and Aon Corp the insurance broker are said to be looking for London office space.

According to C&W, the new rise in demand has helped boost the total demand for London office space up to about 9m sq ft which is a 20% rise since it reached its lowest point in early January of this year.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 7:05 am and is filed under Economy, Public Relations, Real Estate Profits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.