The property consultancy has found availability in newly constructed office buildings has fallen to 0.3% in the West End Core, which covers Mayfair and St James’s.

This availability has fallen to 0.5% in the City of London.

Therefore, only 379,394 sq ft of this calibre of office space is available in two of London’s largest submarkets.

Vacancy rates across all London office stock is currently 9%, with much of this being in average to lower quality properties.

This year there has been 7.3 million sq ft of leasing activity across central London, with over 1.2 million of this in buildings still under construction.

Near-term market momentum is underpinned with almost 2 million sq ft of deals under offer in the City, and 1 million sq ft in the West End.

Such activity has led to prime rents rising.

In the City, letting a sq ft of office space costs £90 on average which is an increase of 16% in the past year.

West End office rents have also grown, by 7%, to an average of £150 per sq ft.

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Knight Frank highlights that within this letting activity several large employers including Legal & General, Evercore, Citadel and Moody’s BDO have signed new leases for their HQs in the capital.

Between now and 2028, the consultancy expects 18 million sq ft of leases to expire.

A 13 million sq ft shortfall of office stock is also anticipated for this period.

Philip Hobley, head of London offices at Knight Frank, commented: “The growing reversion to office-first work policies amongst companies of all sizes has seen London’s newest best-in-class workspaces being acquired by those seeking to upgrade their corporate headquarters.”

“The lack of available prime space means that companies are securing future office requirements further ahead of time, given competition in locations where vacancy is at historically low levels.

“A sizeable proportion of the lease expires in coming years is for space within older office buildings lacking what modern occupiers want, which means that the market will further bifurcate.”