SMEs continue to show strong interest for office space in City of London

Office space in the City of London has remained in high demand towards the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, according to data from analysts at online property search platform Hubble.

Searches for the City of London and its borders consistently make up between 15% and 25% of traffic on the Hubble website, and during January 2017 there were over 3,000 searches where users specified the city as the location in which they were looking for space.

Tushar Agarwal, co-founder & CEO of Hubble, said: “Our search data shows that despite the Brexit vote, the demand for office space among SMEs in London has stayed consistent, signalling the continued attractiveness of London as a place to do business.

“The city remains as popular as ever, commanding between 15 to 25% of all searches across Greater London.

“In recent years we have noticed a diversifying mix of occupiers in the city, with an increasing number of technology firms such as Amazon looking to take space in the city as they grow.

“There is particular interest from FinTech firms, which are drawn by the proximity the city offers to a uniquely high number of potential funders.”

Simon McGinn, city property advisory team manager at the City of London Corporation, added: “Everybody knows that the city is the location of choice for large international firms, but it’s not so well known that, at the last count, 98.7% of businesses in the City of London are SMEs. 80% of these are microbusinesses with fewer than 10 employees.

“Entrepreneurs and startups are looking to locate to places where there is an eco-system of complementary businesses of a variety of scales. Strong interest from SMEs eager to find customers and investment is one indicator of the wider health of cities.

“This data reinforces the view that the Square Mile is the preeminent global business centre: a connected, diverse and exciting place where culture, big business, finance and ideas meet.”