Best areas to open financial / a2 office in South East
64 South East local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a financial or professional A2-use office in South East?
In South East, the best area to open a financial or professional A2-use office is Wealden, with a Gera Business Location Score of 62.2/100: premises at £87/m²/yr and local median pay £27,639. Oxford ranks lowest of 64 South East authorities at 40.6/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top South East area for financial / a2 office: Wealden.
How this is calculatedSouth East ranked for financial / a2 office
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wealden | 62.2/100 | £87 | £27,639 | £3,758 |
| 2 | Thanet | 62/100 | £93 | £27,076 | £4,018 |
| 3 | Rother | 61.9/100 | £90 | £27,732 | £3,888 |
| 4 | Havant | 61.7/100 | £71 | £30,573 | £3,067 |
| 5 | Gosport | 61.6/100 | £72 | £30,518 | £3,110 |
| 6 | Isle of Wight | 61.4/100 | £107 | £26,185 | £4,622 |
| 7 | Arun | 61.4/100 | £98 | £27,461 | £4,234 |
| 8 | Worthing | 61.1/100 | £92 | £29,044 | £3,974 |
| 9 | Ashford | 60.9/100 | £98 | £29,118 | £4,234 |
| 10 | Adur | 60.5/100 | £105 | £28,238 | £4,536 |
| 11 | Dover | 60.3/100 | £84 | £31,547 | £3,629 |
| 12 | Swale | 59.9/100 | £102 | £29,831 | £4,406 |
| 13 | Hastings | 59.7/100 | £108 | £29,383 | £4,666 |
| 14 | Fareham | 59.4/100 | £88 | £32,895 | £3,802 |
| 15 | Cherwell | 59.4/100 | £85 | £33,207 | £3,672 |
| 16 | Folkestone and Hythe | 59.2/100 | £97 | £31,907 | £4,190 |
| 17 | Test Valley | 58.4/100 | £97 | £33,566 | £4,190 |
| 18 | Gravesham | 58.4/100 | £89 | £34,455 | £3,845 |
| 19 | Medway | 58.1/100 | £120 | £30,784 | £5,184 |
| 20 | East Hampshire | 58/100 | £128 | £30,143 | £5,530 |
| 21 | Tonbridge and Malling | 57.7/100 | £122 | £31,472 | £5,270 |
| 22 | Rushmoor | 57.6/100 | £103 | £34,238 | £4,450 |
| 23 | Portsmouth | 57.4/100 | £114 | £33,015 | £4,925 |
| 24 | Eastbourne | 57.3/100 | £161 | £26,893 | £6,955 |
| 25 | Tandridge | 57.3/100 | £140 | £29,925 | £6,048 |
| 26 | Waverley | 57.2/100 | £135 | £31,083 | £5,832 |
| 27 | Hart | 57/100 | £135 | £30,973 | £5,832 |
| 28 | Vale of White Horse | 56.8/100 | £85 | £38,134 | £3,672 |
| 29 | New Forest | 56.7/100 | £147 | £30,071 | £6,350 |
| 30 | Mid Sussex | 56.5/100 | £140 | £31,401 | £6,048 |
| 31 | West Oxfordshire | 56.4/100 | £122 | £34,006 | £5,270 |
| 32 | Horsham | 56.4/100 | £134 | £32,334 | £5,789 |
| 33 | Lewes | 56.3/100 | £135 | £32,287 | £5,832 |
| 34 | Eastleigh | 55.6/100 | £124 | £35,362 | £5,357 |
| 35 | Basingstoke and Deane | 55.3/100 | £126 | £35,492 | £5,443 |
| 36 | Sevenoaks | 55.3/100 | £179 | £28,537 | £7,733 |
| 37 | Elmbridge | 55.1/100 | £171 | £30,000 | £7,387 |
| 38 | Canterbury | 54.9/100 | £177 | £29,337 | £7,646 |
| 39 | Buckinghamshire | 54.8/100 | £149 | £33,367 | £6,437 |
| 40 | Chichester | 54.6/100 | £188 | £28,547 | £8,122 |
| 41 | Spelthorne | 54.3/100 | £163 | £32,237 | £7,042 |
| 42 | Tunbridge Wells | 54.2/100 | £181 | £30,296 | £7,819 |
| 43 | Bracknell Forest | 53.9/100 | £135 | £37,063 | £5,832 |
| 44 | Southampton | 53.8/100 | £158 | £33,878 | £6,826 |
| 45 | Slough | 53.7/100 | £125 | £38,578 | £5,400 |
| 46 | Windsor and Maidenhead | 53.7/100 | £157 | £34,570 | £6,782 |
| 47 | Brighton and Hove | 53.6/100 | £163 | £33,649 | £7,042 |
| 48 | Crawley | 53.5/100 | £148 | £36,053 | £6,394 |
| 49 | Dartford | 53/100 | £180 | £32,428 | £7,776 |
| 50 | Surrey Heath | 52.9/100 | £153 | £36,632 | £6,610 |
| 51 | Epsom and Ewell | 52.7/100 | £176 | £33,824 | £7,603 |
| 52 | South Oxfordshire | 52.6/100 | £159 | £36,315 | £6,869 |
| 53 | Woking | 52.6/100 | £166 | £35,258 | £7,171 |
| 54 | Maidstone | 52/100 | £199 | £31,986 | £8,597 |
| 55 | Reigate and Banstead | 52/100 | £148 | £39,073 | £6,394 |
| 56 | Mole Valley | 51.8/100 | £146 | £39,893 | £6,307 |
| 57 | Winchester | 51.7/100 | £185 | £34,568 | £7,992 |
| 58 | West Berkshire | 51.2/100 | £182 | £35,806 | £7,862 |
| 59 | Runnymede | 49.9/100 | £170 | £40,000 | £7,344 |
| 60 | Wokingham | 49.3/100 | £189 | £38,552 | £8,165 |
| 61 | Milton Keynes | 47.5/100 | £229 | £36,521 | £9,893 |
| 62 | Guildford | 42.1/100 | £296 | £38,027 | £12,787 |
| 63 | Reading | 41.5/100 | £252 | £44,956 | £10,886 |
| 64 | Oxford | 40.6/100 | £309 | £38,779 | £13,349 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for financial / a2 office premises in South East?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in South East is £71/m²/yr in Havant. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Wealden ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for financial / a2 office in Wealden?
- For a 100 m² unit in Wealden, business rates are roughly £3,758/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £8,700/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
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Contains public sector information published by Valuation Office Agency and Office for National Statistics and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: VOA Business Floorspace + ONS Business Counts + ONS ASHE (work geography) + ONS population estimates (2025 (VOA 31 March 2025; ASHE 2025 provisional; Business Counts 2025; population mid-2024), published December 2025).