North West industrial market ‘running low on Grade A space’
The North West’s supply of Grade A industrial space will last just 1.06 years, according to real estate specialist Savills’ latest Big Shed Briefing, with only 11 units totalling 2.12 million sq ft currently in the market.
Despite having the greatest supply of Grade B and C space of any UK region, occupier demand remains focused on top quality units, with Grade A accounting for 70% of take up in the first half of 2018.
After a slow start to the year, occupational activity picked up in the second quarter with 1.66 million sq ft of industrial space transacted by the end of the first half.
This was on a par with the first half of 2017, but 4% lower than the North West’s long term first half average, says Savills.
The region’s largest deals of the first half of 2018 were 373,000 sq ft let to Movanto at Morley Estates’ Haydock Green and 346,153 sq ft let to Royal Mail at Mountpark Omega in Warrington.
The latter took place before practical completion and was the first deal to be secured at the development following Mountpark’s speculative funding of three new units.
In terms of new development, there is 1.47 million sq ft of industrial space under construction across eight schemes in the North West.
The largest is First Panattoni’s 375 at Logistics North in Bolton, which will total 375,000 sq ft.
Development is fairly spread out across the region, says Savills, with two schemes under construction in both Crewe and Bolton.
The average unit size under construction is 184,083 sq ft.
Alex Palfreyman, industrial director at Savills Manchester, said: “After a relatively sluggish first quarter we are beginning to see industrial take-up in line with the long term average.
“There are a number of significant deals due to complete in the near future and, as such, the North West looks set for another robust year.”
