Take-up of UK offices across the UK has hit its highest rolling-12 month level since the third quarter of 2022 in the second quarter of 2025, at 20.3 million square feet.
Central London had 11.8 million square feet of lettings, the South East totalled 2.4 million square feet and the UK regions, which came in at 6.5 million square feet. CBRE said this was an increase of 3% when compared with the same period last year, and 2% above the 10-year average.
In Central London, five deals over 100,000 square feet completed the highest number of transactions of this scale in a quarter since the third quarter of 2018.
Outside Central London and the South East, the largest deal of the quarter involved construction engineering firm Altrad leasing 70,400 square feet at The Apex, Howe Moss Crescent, Aberdeen. Completing the top three regional deals are Aviva Central Services which agreed to take circa 38,000 square feet in Southampton and Softcat, which took 35,400 square feet in Manchester at Goods Yard.
CBRE noted that availability across the regional markets decreased by 3% in the second quarter to stand at 20.7 million square feet at the end of the second quarter, broadly in-line with the five-year average. But it said that supply of new stock remained constrained, representing less than a quarter of available space.
A total of 1.6 million square feet of development space completed across the regional markets in the first half of the year, 41% of which was already let by the end of the second quarter. The adviser added that there is 800,000 square feet of space under construction that is due to complete by the end of the year.
The agency added that 3.1 million square feet of office accommodation is under construction across the regional markets with the earliest possible completion dates up to 2028. Of this space, 17% is already prelet or under offer.
Simon Brown, head of UK office research at CBRE, said in a statement: "Our data shows us that in recent quarters, take-up has started to climb back above the 10-year average, which aligns to our view that occupiers are starting to take larger office footprints again.
"The UK office market is starting to show clear signs of normalisation after a period of relatively low demand. Driven by an increase in return-to-work mandates, we expect companies across the country to continue to acquire space to meet the demands of their growing workforces."
At a sector level, tech, media and telecoms accounted for more than a quarter (27%) of total UK office take-up during the first half of the year, a larger proportion of take-up than any first half over the last 10 years.
While TMT dominated in Manchester, accounting for 31% of office take-up over the 12 months to the end of the second quarter, the banking and finance sector led the way in Edinburgh and Central London at 38% and 30% respectively. In Oxford and the South East, Manufacturing, Industrial & Energy was the prevalent sector at 44% and 34% respectively.
Rob Madden, head of UK investor leasing at CBRE, added: "We know that the quality of the building itself is a top priority for occupiers, but so is location.
"Choosing the right UK market to access the best talent will be determined by the sector you operate in, but beyond that, accessibility and surrounding amenities are incredibly important. However, the thinning supply of new stock and the physical cost of moving are likely to result in more regears.
"If the office is well located and can be refurbed to meet the future needs of the occupier, staying put is a compelling option."
(Updated on 14 August to make clearer it is a rolling 12-month figure).