Midlands prime industrial rents set to rise, forecasts Bidwells
Prime rents across industrial and logistics real estate in the Midlands are forecast to increase every year until 2029, according to Bidwells.
The property consultancy is predicting an average 4.7% rental growth a year for Cambridge, followed by 3.5% for Oxford, and 2.8% for the Norfolk, Suffolk, Milton Keynes and Northampton markets.
Although take-up is not yet back to peak pandemic levels of 2020-21, Bidwells said improved demand across the region echoed the wider economic recovery seen since the start of the year.
Prime rents across industrial and logistics real estate in the Midlands are forecast to increase every year until 2029, according to Bidwells.
The property consultancy is predicting an average 4.7% rental growth a year for Cambridge, followed by 3.5% for Oxford, and 2.8% for the Norfolk, Suffolk, Milton Keynes and Northampton markets.
Although take-up is not yet back to peak pandemic levels of 2020-21, Bidwells said improved demand across the region echoed the wider economic recovery seen since the start of the year.
By the half year mark, take-up in Cambridge hit 159,000 sq ft, almost 80% of the total for 2023, while in Oxford 388,000 sq ft was let, with the science and technology sector driving demand in both locations.
Norfolk and Suffolk saw 321,400 sq ft let over the same period, also ahead of the 2023 total. This figure was helped by the sale of the 91,569 sq ft former Archant Printworks at St Andrews Business Park (pictured) to API Holdings, where Bidwells acted for the joint receivers.
Milton Keynes and Northampton saw a 20% increase on the 2023 total, with 1.9m sq ft of space taken up.
Bidwells’ data revealed that availability rates for facilities remained low across all key Midlands markets, at 3% for Cambridge, 3.8% for Oxford, 4.2% for Norfolk and Suffolk and 5.6% for Milton Keynes and Northampton.
Mark Callender, research partner at Bidwells, said: “Our latest set of data on the Arc market shows that while logistics is still not at its pandemic peak, the market is more robust than in 2023. Fundamentally, the market forces that sparked investment into logistics during Covid-19 are still strong and long lasting.
“Beyond the logistics sector, the Arc’s ability to attract top companies across a range of high growth sectors underpins rental growth, but space shortages present challenges for businesses serving the local communities.”
