The analysts report that output amounted to £10.2bn in the year. Just 152 new construction contracts were awarded, worth £2.7bn, in the first five months of this year; this compares to 185 new contracts worth £3.9bn at the same point last year.
In 2026, only 694,000 square feet of office space is expected to be completed across the Big Nine regional cities, which is significantly lower than the average of 2.2 million square feet per year from 2020 to 2024.
In the City of London, average prime rents passed £100/sq ft for the first time in 2025, rising by 6.8% on the prior year. Rents were up 6.1% in the West End. Across the country, in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester, cumulative prime rental growth has averaged 37% since 2019.
Savills data cited in the report puts City core Grade A vacancy at just 2.2%. Other sources cited by Barbour ABI reported Grade A availability in the City of London and West End falling below 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Across the Big Six, Grade A availability is just 3.6%, with new-build vacancy at only 1.1%.
Ed Griffiths, head of client and business analytics at Barbour ABI, said: “The imbalance between strong demand and constrained Grade A supply is pushing prime rents upward across London and key regional markets.
“Grade A, well-located, ESG-compliant space is in high demand and short supply. According to CBRE, there is only 1.3 years of supply currently under construction across the whole of the UK. Starts are expected to remain below trend levels through 2026 due to ongoing issues, including planning constraints and high build and financing costs.
“Thus, the Grade A supply gap is unlikely to close any time soon. This dynamic is most acute in London but is also increasingly apparent across major regional cities.”
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