Colliers: Prime Warrington rent to hit £6.75/sq ft this year

Rents for prime industrial space in Warrington are likely to reach £6.75/sq ft by the end of 2018 with demand continuing to outstrip supply, according to analysis by Colliers International.

Figures from the advisory firm suggest rents for industrial and logistics sites of more than 100,000 sq ft in Warrington had increased by 32% in the last five years, rising from £4.75/sq ft in 2013 to a current high of £6.25/sq ft.

A new headline rent has been achieved in Warrington in the last few weeks, as first revealed by Place North West, after Royal Mail agreed to take 346,000 sq ft at Mountpark’s Omega South.

Colliers said it expected the further units at Omega South, three units of 184,000 sq ft, 137,000 sq ft and 97,000 sq ft, to hit rents of £6.75/sq ft, with demand driven by sectors including automotive, food distribution, manufacturing, and online retail.

The 137,000 sq ft and 97,000 sq ft units are already under construction and are due to complete in November this year, while the largest has planning consent and will follow in a second phase.

Occupiers in the market with requirements of more than 300,000 sq ft include Boohoo.com, Ikea, Home Bargains, Amazon, and Wincanton. Place North West reported last month Amazon was close to agreeing a deal to take 360,000 sq ft Bericote’s M6Major in Haydock.

Outside Warrington, Colliers’ research suggests the highest prime industrial rent in the region is in Manchester, where rents are currently at £6.50/sq ft, up 26% over the last five years.

Rents in Liverpool have grown by 22% over the same period but have remained relatively flat since 2016 at £5.50/sq ft, with rents also at £5.50/sq ft in Lancashire.

John Sullivan, director, industrial and logistics at the North West offices of Colliers in Manchester and Liverpool, said: “Warrington continues to attract record high rental levels for prime sites in the North West of England because of its strategic positioning at the very heart of the region’s communications network offering occupiers easy access to regional, national and international markets.

“With the availability of big sheds in the region having declined by 66 per cent since 2010, and the e-tail economy booming in many sectors, the need for developers to provide locations of more than 100,000 sq ft is an absolute no brainer, thereby explaining the increasing number of speculate schemes underway and proposed over the next 18 months.”