What’s been happening in the Commercial Property Market?
As another month draws to a close, another set of stats are released about the state of the residential and commercial property markets. Halifax today announced a 1.1% rise in the cost of residential properties during July (although they remain cautious in saying this will continue) whilst the RICS Q2 Commercial Property Survey drew the following conclusions of the commercial property market:
Demand
Overall tenant demand for commercial property continued to decline although the rate of decline did ease. This stabilisation was especially shown in the offices market, and, to a lesser extent, industrial properties, although demand for retail spaces continued to fall, especially in London and the Midlands. However, London did show mild increases in demand for office space whilst the industrial market showed declines in London and the Midlands but stabilised across the rest of the country.
Enquiries
Across the country, except the Midlands, enquiries for office space, at the least, stabilised and in some areas moderately increased. Whilst outside of London and the Midlands industrial property enquiries rose. Enquires for retail spaces continued to fall UK wide, although at a slower rate than previous quarters.
Availability
The level of commercial property floor space continued to rise, although at a much reduced rate than the previous quarter, across the UK with the exception being industrial properties in London where levels remained the same. Continuing the trend since the start of the downturn, retail properties continued to show the highest rises in availability. Whilst offices in central London showed a similar rate of availability as the previous quarter, offices in the Southern Counties showed a lesser rate of availability. Industrial properties across the UK recorded a reduced rate of availability.
Whether you are looking for available commercial property or trying to sell or let your office, industrial unit or retail space we would love to hear from you: Do these reported trends reflect the experiences you are having in your area? Contact us and let us know your thoughts.
