According to a report by Knight Frank, Aberdeens commercial office property sector has trumped key regional cities with the highest headline rent in the UK at £30psf during Q4 2010.

Aberdeen remains the best performing UK city of 2010, commanding the strongest net effective rent and the shortest levels of incentives of any of the eleven regional cities in Knight Franks Q4 ROMP (Regional Office Market Presentation) Report.

The city tops the prime headline rent charts beating regional counterparts such as Birmingham (£28.50 psf), Bristol (£27.50 psf) and Cardiff (£21.00 psf).

Glasgow also fared well in the report with prime headline rents stabilising at £27.00 per sq ft. In Q4 2010 take-up was in excess of 90,000 sq ft in Glasgow city centre, bringing the annual total to 535,000 sq ft, which is 15% higher than 2009 and almost 30% higher than the cycles low point in 2008.

In Edinburghs city core prime rents have also remained relatively stable at £27.00 per sq ft at the end of Q4. Take-up in Q4 was 100,000 sq ft, bringing the total take-up in Edinburgh city centre to 511,000 sq ft at the end of 2010, 5.4% up on 2009. Furthermore, despite limited speculative development across the UK, Edinburgh has the highest volume of development underway at 190,000 sq ft.

Drew Oswald, partner, Knight Frank said: "The last year has been difficult for the UK commercial property sector but Scotland is still holding up well against other UK cities, as the latest ROMP figures demonstrate.

"Once again, Aberdeens commercial property sector has retained its top position against key regional cities last year and is off to a promising first quarter with high oil prices pushing more money into the local economy. Glasgow and Edinburgh also held their own in 2010 with headline rents in both cities stable at £27 psf. Looking forward, we hope to see these figures retained with the possibility that occupier confidence may start to return to markets this year."

Anthea To, Senior Research Analyst, Knight Frank said: "With take-up gathering momentum against a backdrop of falling vacancy rates which are now back to a level consistent with the long-term average, the market would appear to be well into the recovery phase of the next cycle. We expect activity to increase in H2 2011 as confidence continues to return to the market."