Region faces shed imbalance, says CBRE
Merseyside stands to gain in the coming year as Manchester has no industrial units available over 200,000 sq ft, CB Richard Ellis said in a new report.
The CBRE 2009 Logistics Market Report found the amount of available space across the country increased steadily in 2009 to 55.7m sq ft at the end of the year. Around 21% of this empty space was in the North West, second only to the South East with 24% of the total.
New space under construction or within 12 months of completion makes up only 2.7m sq ft of the 55.7m sq ft total.
The report stated: "With no speculative development activity expected over the next 12 months, it is likely that some regions will have very low levels of new space by the end of the year. Birmingham and Manchester already have no units in excess of 200,000 sq ft available…Occupiers with imminent lease events that require the acquisition of a substantial volume of space will find their options becoming increasingly limited going forward."
The most prevalent type of available unit in the UK is between 100,000 sq ft and 250,000 sq ft, accounting for more than 50% of supply. There are eight very large units over 500,000 sq ft.
Howard George, senior director of industrial at CBRE North West, said: "One of the most notable characteristics of 2009 was the significant lack of new units coming onto the market – across the whole of the UK early marketed space stood at only 2.7m sq ft which accounts for just 5% of the overall availability – and a limited supply of larger facilities. This provides a great opportunity for Merseyside as the majority of sizeable units are located within the region and bring hope that we will land some of the major deals over the next 12 months."
The North West boasted the largest deal in the UK last year, B&M Retail's acquisition of 618,000 sq ft at The Vault in Speke from Rockpoint. The region also saw four other transactions over 200,000 sq ft as tenants took advantage of the favourable terms being offered by landlords including Interserve taking 236,000 sq ft at Pioneer Point in Ellesmere Port.
