Western Corridor Industrial Market Spring 2019

Despite continued political uncertainty and strong headwinds for the economy, the Western Corridor recorded yet another strong year in 2018 with 5.6 million sq ft of industrial and logistics floorspace taken up. The Western Corridor has a well-established labour market, excellent transportation links and is in close proximity to London. The Corridors’ continued resilience underlines its attractiveness for occupiers and investors alike.

Demand has remained robust over the last few years, despite supply continuing to fall, demonstrating the importance and value of the West London and Thames Valley industrial markets. With take-up tracking well above the long-term average, allied to the fall in supply, we believe that various key locations are now seeing record low vacancy rates across the Corridor.

Prohad Khan, industrial & logistics research analyst commented that ‘robust demand for industrial floorspace over the last three years has been driven by the smaller end of the market, with the average size of unit taken up in 2018 totalling 12,707 sq ft, slightly up on 2017 when the average size was 12,695 sq ft.

“Although we predicted that economic and political uncertainty could slow down occupier decision making, there has been minimal impact on take-up. With take-up once again soaring past the 5 million sq ft mark. The year ahead will see growing uncertainty and a shortage in supply, but overall sentiment for the market remains positive.”

To find out more about the continued health of the Western Corridor industrial market, with a concise update on occupational take-up and supply along the Corridor covering all industrial and logistics units of 2,000 sq ft upwards, download our Western Corridor Industrial Market Spring 2019 Update.