Office space take-up is expected to drop in the next two years and 13% of offices are set to be empty by 2010, a rise on the current rate of 9.4%.
Office lettings across the UK will fall by a third during this period, according to a report carried out by Lambert Smith Hampton in a study of 28 regional centres.
Economic uncertainty and the credit crunch are cited as driving factors of this slow-down. Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Birmingham and Bristol, will be hardest hit as areas that will account for more than half of new office spaces during this period.
“With many consented schemes now on hold as a result of the credit squeeze and economic uncertainty, the risk of a 1990s-style oversupply in the medium term has been somewhat mitigated,” says the report.
“We can expect the market to begin to absorb the supply as demand strengthens from 2010 onwards.”