Leeds office market stirs as 12 King Street lists at £26m

The £26.25m listing of a fully-let Grade A building is the first big-ticket prime sale in the city since 2024 – a sign the investment market may be waking up as rents hit record highs.

The Leeds office market is one of the city centre’s best buildings put up for sale at £26.25m. 12 King Street, a fully refurbished Grade A block two minutes from the station, has been brought to market by agents Knight Frank and CBRE on behalf of owners Opus North and Fiera Real Estate UK. The agents say it is the first prime office sale in Leeds since Central Square changed hands in 2024 – a potential sign that investor appetite for the city is returning.

Why This Matters For Leeds

Office listings do not usually make headlines, but this one is a useful barometer. A £26m prime building coming to market, the first big prime sale since 2024, tests whether investors are ready to back Leeds after a quiet couple of years in capital markets. With record rents and a shortage of top-grade space, the fundamentals look strong; a confident sale would be a vote of confidence in the city centre, and could encourage more owners and developers to bring schemes forward.

A marquee building, and a stirring Leeds office market

12 King Street is no ordinary refurbishment. The building was stripped back to its frame and effectively rebuilt, with a new seventh floor added, giving 52,237 sq ft of Grade A space across a basement and seven upper floors, plus private terraces and a 3,875 sq ft wrap-around roof terrace. It is fully let to nine national and international names, including Lloyds Bank, NM Rothschild & Sons, accountancy firm Azets and private equity house Endless. Its green and technology credentials – EV charging, low water use and a Platinum WiredScore rating – are pitched as among the best in the country. The £26.25m asking price reflects that quality: a prime, fully-occupied asset in the heart of the city’s professional and retail core.

“We haven’t seen activity in Leeds capital markets at the prime end for years, with the last transaction being Central Square in 2024.”

— Graham Foxton, Investment Partner, Knight Frank

Record rents and a shortage of space

The sale lands at a notable moment for the Leeds office market. Headline rents in the city have reached a record £52.50 per sq ft, according to CBRE, driven by a shortage of top-quality space as little new prime office stock has been built. Henry King, a director at CBRE, said occupiers chasing best-in-class space now face ‘an increasingly limited choice’, with further rental growth expected. That scarcity is part of the pitch to investors: a modern, fully-let building in a market where rents are rising and quality supply is tight. Chris Button, head of investment management at Fiera Real Estate, said ‘ongoing confidence in Leeds’ reinforced its appeal as ‘one of the UK’s leading regional office markets’. The vendors include Opus North, the Leeds-based developer, alongside Fiera.