Birmingham’s office market resilient to Brexit storms

Birmingham’s office sector is well positioned to weather uncertainty arising from Brexit negotiations once the UK triggers ‘Article 50’, according to a new report by the developer of the city’s largest speculative office build.

The study, published by property investor M&G Real Estate, reveals that the market appears more resilient given Grade-A availability is very low and there is limited new supply of high quality, modern office accommodation coming online in the short-term.

Office take-up is being driven by domestic demand, which has proven surprisingly buoyant, it adds.

M&G Real Estate said the relative merits of Birmingham’s office market – demographics (population, size and growth), connectivity, quality of workforce, global university rankings, innovation – factors which will shape the local urban economy and influence occupier demand, would not materially change in the wake of Brexit.

The report concludes that Birmingham, along with Manchester and Reading, is moving ahead of the rest – helped by strong and improving transport infrastructure including HS2, a young educated workforce and government support.

Aaron Pope, Director, Asset Management at M&G Real Estate, said: “Birmingham’s office market appears to be in a much better position than we were expecting last year and we now look to the future from a position of relative strength.

“However, it is clear that there are definite and significant headwinds in place that may affect the market over the next two years.”

M&G Real Estate’s Birmingham’s office portfolio includes Three Snowhill, the £200m, 420,000 sq ft office development in Birmingham city centre – the largest speculative office development being constructed outside of London and which is scheduled to complete in early 2019.

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