Third quarter take up totalled 58,523 sq ft, the lowest quarterly figure since the second quarter of 2011. Total take up for 2014 is currently at 298,966 sq ft, less than half of the 622,544 sq ft recorded this time last year. Registered demand however has continued to rise, with a further 14% uplift on the demand seen in the second quarter of 2014, equating to 178% of current built stock availability. This rise in demand coupled with low take up figures indicates that there is a serious lack of the space available that occupiers want.

Duncan Quig, Office Agent at LSH, commented: “Agents in Cambridge have been warning of a desperate shortage of office stock for some time. Unlike other parts of the UK however, this shortage is not a result of residential conversions, rather continued growth in demand. Cambridge is particularly appealing to Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) and Pharmaceutical occupiers, who have accounted for 71% of transactions so far this year.

“This shortage of stock is particularly noticeable in town. Availability has fallen by around 5% to 692,753 sq ft, of which only 13.8% is in town. In addition, there are no buildings readily available in town offering greater than 20,000 sq ft, and there remains only four options in the wider market place. The response to this has been speculative schemes in both the city centre and out of town. The concern is though that these have come too late to cope with demand.”

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