Total office take-up in Europe in the first half of this year came to 6.7 million m2, according to Jones Lang LaSalle in its latest quarterly report.This is 9% higher than for the same period last year and is the highest figure on record. The firm's 'European Office Property Clock' for the second quarter of 2007 shows that most major office markets were in the up-phase of their rental cycles at the end of June. The European Office Rental Index, based on the weighted performance of 24 cities in Europe, increased by 4.6% during the last quarter, which is the highest quarterly increase since the last three months of 2000.

Total office take-up in Europe in the first half of this year came to 6.7 million m2, according to Jones Lang LaSalle in its latest quarterly report.This is 9% higher than for the same period last year and is the highest figure on record. The firm's 'European Office Property Clock' for the second quarter of 2007 shows that most major office markets were in the up-phase of their rental cycles at the end of June. The European Office Rental Index, based on the weighted performance of 24 cities in Europe, increased by 4.6% during the last quarter, which is the highest quarterly increase since the last three months of 2000.

Jones Lang LaSalle's CEO EMEA, Alastair Hughes, said that strong business confidence, corporate profitability and increasing employment levels were driving the strong demand for office space and squeezing supply across Europe. 'Rents are continuing their upward rise,' he added, 'and we expect this to continue as substantial increases in net absorption are causing vacancy rates to drop further.'

With 1.4 million m2, Paris saw the highest level of office take-up during the first half of 2007, but Moscow's 930,000 m2 meant that the Russian capital recorded the highest increase: up 76% compared to the same period last year. Prime rents for the 24 cities in the index were 11% higher on average than at the end of the second quarter of 2006, with the highest quarterly growth rates recorded in Oslo (26.5%), Budapest (18.9%), Moscow (15.4%) and Athens (14.8%). The European economy is expected to show robust growth through the rest of 2007, and GDP forecasts for the European Union have been revised upwards to 2.9%. Even so, with the exception of Hungary, the Central and Eastern European economies are expected to continue to outperform Western Europe.