Below is the latest Central London Q1 2008 Review from Knight Frank. Some key points:

• Take-up recovered in the first quarter after the significant fall witnessed at the end of 2007. 3.1 m sq ft was transacted across Central London, which was 18% higher than the previous quarter but still 11% below average.
• Active demand rose by 7% to 9.0 m sq ft with 2.0 m sq ft of new requirements activated. The demand profile remains dominated by the financial sector although the volume of media sector requirements rose for the 8th consecutive quarter and now accounts for 20% of all active demand.
• Availability remained stable across all grades of space in Central London at 13.8 m sq ft. However, speculative construction activity continued to increase and now stands at 9.6 m sq ft, 70% of which is in the City.
• The Central London office market has felt the effects of the recent problems in the global financial markets.  While the fundamentals of the Central London market remain strong, prime rents in the City have seen a readjustment from the record levels achieved towards the end of last year, while rents remained stable in the West End.
• Investment turnover totalled £2.1 bn in the first quarter, an improvement on the fourth quarter but still significantly lower than the record levels witnessed during 2006 and the first months of 2007.

Central London Quarterly Review PDF