Record take-up of unit space

Take-up of industrial and logistics units bigger than 100,000sq ft hit record levels in Scotland in the first half of 2020, according to Savills.

A total of 704,531sq ft was signed up for across just four deals, a 165% increase on the long-term first half average and a 95% rise on H1 2019.

Savills said take-up consisted entirely of secondhand units, with no new speculatively developed units currently available.

Total supply was down by 9% from the end of 2019 to stand at 1.34 million sq ft across nine separate units.

Only 12% of this was Grade A quality.

“Occupiers having to settle for lower quality”

Ross Sinclair, director in the firm’s industrial team, added: “Take-up continues to be constrained by both shortages in the size and quality of available units throughout the region, with occupiers having to settle for lower quality options to satisfy their requirements. With no sign of speculatively developed units over 100,000 sq ft in Scotland, ongoing demand and the resulting decline in supply will keep the vacancy rate low in the short to medium-term – and push rents up.”

Across the UK, Savills reported 22.4 million sq ft of take-up of 100,000sq ft-plus industrial and logistics space.