LONDON-The UK's key regional office markets are now increasingly short of prime space. And with only a limited number of new developments expected to be completed within the next 12 months, rental levels are expected to increase, according to new research from agents DTZ.

The UK Regional Offices Research analyses the markets in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Nottingham between October 2000 and March 2001. While the picture is not uniform across all centres, most experienced falls in availability. Voids are now as low as 2% in Newcastle city centre and 3% in Birmingham and Leeds city centres.

The lack of available space has had an adverse impact on take-up with 4.29 million sf taken up in the last six months, down 15% on the previous two quarters. Birmingham saw a doubling of take-up but most other centres experienced a significant decline.