“High-quality, fully fitted and well-presented space remains attractive across the city’s office market” – Matt Park, Knight Frank
Aberdeen’s office market remains on track for its best year since before the Covid pandemic after a further uptick in the third quarter.
Property consultancy Knight Frank’s analysis of the latest data found that office space take-up in the first nine months of 2026 amounted to 326,801 square feet - up 44 per cent on the 227,000 sq ft transacted during the same period last year. It was also more than 2025’s total of 280,000 sq ft.
A further 37,106 sq ft of take-up was recorded across 11 deals during the third quarter of this year, following Aberdeen’s best first half of a year since 2019. Deals completed in the last three months included the sale of 4 Carden Terrace, which was acquired for alternative use.
Knight Frank noted that take-up in 2026 had been buoyed by CB&I Asset Solutions taking more than 100,000 sq ft at Caledonia House at Prime Four Business Park in Kingswells - the largest office transaction in Aberdeen since Total’s relocation to Westhill in 2017. Knight Frank represented CB&I Asset Solutions on the deal.
Matt Park, a partner at Knight Frank Aberdeen, said: “Activity in Aberdeen’s office market was more subdued in the third quarter - but that was to be expected after a surge in deal activity during the first half of the year, led by CB&I Asset Solutions taking 100,000 sq ft at Prime Four Business Park.
“Even so, the city’s fundamentals remain encouraging. Tenants are still prioritising high‑quality, ready‑to‑occupy space that offers simplicity and cost certainty. Availability of new Grade A space remains under pressure, which we expect to lead to a new headline rent being set in Aberdeen during the remainder of this year,” he added.
“High-quality, fully fitted and well-presented space remains attractive across the city’s office market. Given the level of active requirements, we hope to see momentum build again in Aberdeen towards the end of the year and for that to continue into 2027.”
Last month, it emerged that more than £100 million of French investment had flowed into Aberdeen’s commercial property market over the past year-and-a-half.
A string of deals over the last 18 months or so means that French buyers have now purchased £100.6m of office buildings, hotels, industrial units and other commercial property assets in the Granite City.
French buyers have also been behind some of the biggest deals in Aberdeen in the last couple of years. Among them are the sale of Helmerich & Payne’s (formerly KCA Deutag) Aberdeen headquarters, Alderan’s £28.5m purchase of Total E&P’s site on Moss Road, and the Travelodge Aberdeen Central hotel on Bridge Street.
Property experts noted that the majority of investment in the city from French buyers has been accounted for by open-ended property investment funds known as Société Civile de Placement Immobiliers (SCPIs). They have been investing heavily in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire since the end of the pandemic, with their purchases in the past 18 months including the 3T Survivex facility in Dyce.