Investment in city centre is paying off

PROPERTY leaders say the massive investment in Manchester city centre is paying dividends in attracting national and international businesses - and they hope there's more to come.

- ALISTAIR HOUGHTON

The latest figures from the Manchester Office Agents Forum (MOAF) showed that in the third quarter, 432,619 sq ft of city centre office space was let across 51 transactions, giving a big boost to the annual total.

Almost 1m sq ft has been let in the year so far with 46 per cent of take up coming in Q3.

The quarter also saw the two largest transactions in the year, with the letting of 4 Angel Square (196,443 sq ft) to BNY Mellon and ARM's deal for three floors in 1 St Michaels (68,860 sq ft).

MOAF has predicted a 'strong take-up' for the rest of the year and expected the annual total to top 1.3m - eclipsing the five and 10-year average figures of 1.1m and 1.2m respectively.