Strong Q1 sees total take-up 56% up on this point last year.

■ Take-up for March was 990,568 sq ft across 55 transactions, bringing the year-to-date take-up to 1,984,599 sq ft, which is 56% up on this point last year. This year, 84% of all transactions have been of a Grade A standard.

■ The rise in take-up is a result of a greater number of transactions, as opposed to an increase in the size. There have been 138 deals so far this year compared with just 90 at this point last year, equating to a reduction in the average deal size for 2015 to 14,381 sq ft, from 15,080 sq ft last year.

■ The largest letting in March was the 258,063 sq ft pre-let of One New Street Square to Deloitte. The Land Securities development is currently under-construction and is due to for completion Q2 2016.

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TABLE 1Key March stats

^{Source: Savills Research}

■ Another notable deal for March was WeWork acquiring 167,912 sq ft of Moor Place. The serviced office provider continued their strong activity within the City by acquiring the Grd - 7th floors of the development on a 20 year lease at a confidential rent.

■ At the end of Q1, the traditional dominant occupiers of the City, the Insurance, Financial and Banking services sector have accounted for the majority of take-up at 22%. Furthermore, the Professional services sector has also been active so far this year, accounting for 21% of take-up. The Business & Consumer services and TMT sectors have accounted for 17% and 16% respectively. The diverse occupier base within the City is a good indicator of a healthy market.

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GRAPH 1City take-up by quarter

^{Source: Savills Research}

■ Current supply is at 6.5m sq ft, which equates to a vacancy rate of 6.7%. The limited future supply is resulting in the vacancy rate being driven downwards.

■ The majority of the supply at the moment is within the City Core, with EC2 and EC3 accounting for 26% and 20% respectively. Whereas, EC4 and EC1 have a more severe supply constraint accounting for 13% and 10% respectively.

■ Supply in SE1 currently accounts for just 8% of total supply, equating to 490,934 sq ft of available office space. Moreover, The Shard accounts for 310,711 sq ft of this available space, which gives an even clearer idea of the lack of space within SE1.

■ At the end of Q1, the top rent achieved so far this year has been £75 per sq ft at The Leadenhall Building. Although, a rent of £90 per sq ft at the same building is believed to have been achieved this month. The average of the top ten rents of the quarter, otherwise known as the average Prime, has slightly risen on Q4 last year by 0.6% reaching £64.46 per sq ft.

■ Moreover, the average Grade A rent has risen from £48.95 per sq ft for the whole of 2014 reaching £51.16 per sq ft in Q1 2015.

■ We are currently tracking 10m sq ft of either active or potential requirements who would consider options across Central London as a whole or the City specifically. This is up on the long term average by 14%.