Hedge funds are currently hunting for 474,000 square feet of new London office space to grow their footprint in the capital. This is the highest active requirement figure since Knight Frank began collecting data in 2019.
The continued reversion to office-first work policies and expansionary activity has resulted in a surge in demand to upgrade corporate headquarters. However, competition is intensifying for new prime City and West End developments, where vacancy rates are near record lows, sitting at 1.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
Knight Frank’s data show that London’s niche financial sector, which includes hedge funds, private equity firms, family offices, asset and wealth managers, merchant banks, and more, has taken 1.5 million square feet of new office space since the start of 2024. Last year’s take-up was 16 percent higher than the five-year annual average for this sector, which currently has 1.7 million square feet of active office requirements,
