Brighton and Hove has been named as the top office hotspot in a new report.

The city’s office space was the most sought after in the region alongside red-brick Oxford in one of two positive reports backing Brighton and Hove as one of the country’s leading places for busi- ness.

Commercial property listings company NovaLoca used analysis of Google search terms to put Brighton and Hove on top and predicted that office space enquiries could increase by up to 70% in the financial year.

And the city comfortably outscored Oxford when it came to retail space searches as well as put- ting the city at the top of the regional rankings.

Brighton and Hove has also been named among the top ten UK locations that provide the best environment for business success in a separate report by information services firm Experian.

The city ranked seventh nationally, trailing behind Northampton, Aberdeen and Bristol, in the comprehensive report but outperforming Oxford, York and Sutton.

Brighton and Hove scored well with a low insolvency rate of just one per 140 businesses but less well against its competitors in terms of start-ups and the number of high- growth businesses which had sales growth of 10% or more.

Experian reported that 2013 saw 5,123 start-ups in Brighton and Hove but 1,692 closures meaning that surviving start-ups accounted for one in ten of businesses.

Four in ten businesses studied also had a sales growth of 10% in the past year.

Miranda Munn, owner and founder of NovaLoca, said the city’s regeneration image was attractive to those looking for office and retail space.

She said: “Often it is very hard to identify the reasons behind these decisions, sometimes they are very practical and sometimes they are more emotional.

“The quality of life is an attraction for Brighton with companies wanting more of a work life balance.

“Brighton is close enough to the city but has a physically more relaxing aspect.

“There is no doubt that we are see- ing a massive increase in confidence from the last quarter and increasing in the beginning of 2014.”