Figures from the commercial property adviser CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) show that more than £300 million was invested in Manchester office space during the first six months of 2010, and the outlook for office rents in the city is rated positively.
Data for the first half of this year represents a “robust recovery” of Manchester’s office space market, experts suggest, while total investment in the sector has increased by close to £270 million this year compared with the same period of 2009.
Indeed, the indicators so far this year have been so positive that CBRE expects to see 2010 finish as a record 12-month period for Manchester’s office space sector, with more than 1m sq ft likely to be taken up.
“The recovery in Manchester has been stronger than in other regional cities as vacant space has become so limited, creating scope for real rental growth,” explained Rehan Zeman, from CBRE’s north-west office.
“Manchester has therefore become the firm favourite for investors seeking office assets outside central London,” he added.
CBRE cited Aerium’s £180 million purchase of 3 Hardman Street in the Spinningfields area of central Manchester as being the “most significant” in the city so far this year and one of the largest single prime office space transactions ever seen in the north-west of England.
Editor’s notes: In 2023, it was reported that of the ‘Big 6’ regional office markets outside London, which include Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester, Manchester and Birmingham dominated the office building investment activity in 2022.
Office investment activity totalled £1.6 billion across all 6 markets over the course of the year, with office deals in Manchester accounting for £421m or 26 per cent of the total, and Birmingham office deals accounting for £402m, representing 24 per cent of the total.
Research conducted in June 2026 found that Savills had reported in January that year that regional office investment volumes reached £ 3.6 billion in 2025, representing a 23 per cent increase on the total recorded in 2024.
Avison Young reported in May 2026 that Q1 2026 regional office investment was the highest of any Q1 in the past four years.
Its analysis of the Big Nine cities (Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle) found that office investment transactions totalled £477 million in the first quarter of 2026.
Investment volumes across the Big Nine were boosted by three transactions over £50 million, including the Bank of New York Mellon’s £114m owner-occupier acquisition of 4 Angel Square in the NOMA district of Manchester.
Manchester’s total take-up via office lettings in 2025 was 1.14 million square feet, and in Q1 2026, take-up in Manchester totalled 286,222 square feet across 51 transactions.
It was analysed that this was 10 per cent lower than Q1 2025’s figure; however, it was 25 per cent and 10 per cent above the five- and ten-year Q1 averages.