Office leasing activity across Greater London and the South East hit 630,000 sq ft in Q1 2026 – the strongest quarterly performance since Q1 2025, according to new figures from Savills.
The majority (81%) of take-up was for Grade A space, which was largely driven by corporate occupiers, particularly in the larger size bands. The number of deals of more than 20,000 sq ft was in line with the long-term average.
Maidenhead, Chelmsford and Slough had a particularly strong start to the year achieving headline rents of £60/sq ft, £34/sq ft and £40/sq ft respectively.
Noteworthy deals completed in Q1 include Microsoft signing for 79,000 at Thames Valley Park, Zebra taking 30,000 sq ft at Tempo in Maidenhead and Ralph Lauren agreeing a 21,000 sq ft deal at The Clarendon Works (pictured), Watford.
Andrew Willcock, head of Greater London and South East office leasing at Savills, said: “Despite the strongest quarter of take-up since Q1 2025, the economic and global headwinds have undeniably slowed down or stalled leasing transactional activity in the last few months. However, larger corporate demand is relatively healthy, and once volatility settles, we anticipate a number of lettings to complete on the prime space in the market.”
Bella Sharp, commercial research analyst at Savills, added: “Sector activity continues to be led by technology and manufacturing and industry, which together account for half of all take-up, reinforcing their role as key drivers of demand across the region. Following this data, we expect to see continued demand across the regions for the year ahead, especially across any available Grade A space.”
