Q4 2023 Take-Up Statistics
- Golden Triangle leasing activity totalled 169,000 sq ft in Q1 2024.
- Whilst a step down from the 364,000 leased in Q4 2023, it remained 5% above the five-year quarterly average.
Evolving Demand and Supply
- There is 2.8 million sq ft of life sciences space under construction across the Golden Triangle.
- 24% of supply under construction is pre-let or under offer.
- A slowdown in venture capital markets alongside a string of recent completions brought a modest easing in the demand-supply imbalance
- Prime headline quoting rents in Q1 2024 increased by 8% in Cambridge to £70.00 psf while Oxford and London held firm at £62.50 in Oxford and £130.00 respectively.
Venture Capital
- The first quarter of the year reported £641.2 million of venture capital (VC) funding invested into UK life sciences companies, up 3% on the five-year quarterly average.
- Investors are opting to invest in fewer companies overall but with larger average size for the relevant funding stage. In Q1 2024, the average funding package was £13.9 million, 29% above the five-year average.
- The global IPO market had its best quarter since Q1 2022, which is likely to encourage VC dry powder into the market.
Investment Market Insights
- A total of £192.5 million of life sciences real estate transacted across the Golden Triangle in Q1 2024.
- While this was over double Q4 2023 and represented the highest quarterly figure since Q1 2023, the high-interest-rate environment is keeping volumes subdued.
- Looking forward to later in 2024, a pipeline of transactions in the offing has the potential, if they successfully transact, to increase the number and volume of deals to the above-average levels seen in Q1 2023.
Read more in our latest quarterly report External Link or get in touch with a member of the team to discuss further.
