Demand for UK logistics and artificial storehouse space — fuelled by the continuing growth in online retail — has continued to soar, with 2021 full-time data (for storage over sq ft in size) showing a new record high in take-up, as70.1 million sq ft was let or vended for own occupation, according to new numbers from Cushman & Wakefield.
The figure was nearly a third of the former high in 2020 of 53 million sq ft and further than double the quantum of space transacted during a normal time pre-pandemic. From an investment perspective, the request also had a record time in 2021, with£ 17 billion of deals transacted. The final quarter alone saw as an important investment as an average timetable time (£ 6 billion-plus).
Demand concentrated on good quality bottom space, with over 40 million sq ft of new space taken by occupiers in 2021. The data showed that for the first time on record, more academic space (20.6 million sq ft) was taken into directed-to-suit, reflecting the urgency with which numerous occupiers presently need space.
Online retail was the main motorist of lettingasase-commerce drivers committed to20.5 million sq ft in 2021 — accounting for 33 per cent of total take-up of logistics space. Numerous multi-channel retailers also took storage to serve both their online and store-grounded retail networks.
Logistics providers were also monstrously avaricious in 2021, taking13.6 million sq ft, or 22 per cent of the 2021 aggregate, a press release from Cushman & Wakefield said.
In response to the exceptional occupier demand, inventors delivered13.7 million sq ft of academic development, nearly double the 2020 volume of7.3 million sq ft. The development channel for 2022 is indeed bigger, with over 15 million sq ft of space presently under construction.
The exploration shows that inventors are continuing the trend of erecting lower units of to sq ft, but similar is their confidence in occupiers’ appetite for new space, some have committed to larger units of over sq ft, and systems outside core locales.
Last time, several large visage-European/ global portfolios with UK logistics exposure changed hands, similar to EQT Exeter and Cabot Parcels’portfolios. The trend towards erecting scale is illustrated by adding lot sizes.