The office market goes up, everything else goes sideways. That would be a brutal but concise way to explain 2019 in Birmingham on the evidence of the newly released analysis by Deloitte Real Estate.

The annual crane survey revealed that city centre office completions reached an all-time high of 775K SF, up 250K SF on the year before.

But under pressure from Brexit uncertainty, new starts across all sectors plunged by 50% in 2019, down from 23 in 2018 to just 11. Added to the crop of schemes that began in 2018, the total schemes under construction is now 41, a slight increase on the previous year.

The 11 new starts recorded in this survey are split across the residential and office sectors at seven and four, respectively.

“Three Snowhill and One and Two Chamberlain Square have all completed, with BT Group announcing it will move to Three Snowhill at the end of the year," Deloitte Real Estate partner Edwin Bray said. "One Chamberlain Square is fully let, with Two Chamberlain Square part pre-let, allowing the developer to press on with the next phase.”

The investment in new office space continues with four new schemes, taking the total to seven under construction. Of the total office space under construction, approximately half (53%) is pre-let, up from 33% in 2018, suggesting sustained confidence in the occupier market.