Re-Leased, the cloud-based commercial property management platform, has published its COVID-19 Regional Rent Collection Report which ranks 20 of the largest cities and towns in England by the overall % of rent collected for commercial properties 25 days after the March quarter date against its two-year average.
Key findings of the report reveal:
- Cambridge is the most resilient location, with overall rent collection down by -7%. This compares to a UK average of -30%.
- Bristol ranks the second most resilient location, seeing an overall decline of -9%.
- All other locations analysed report double-digit decreases in the overall % of rent collected.
- Liverpool saw the steepest overall decline at -50%, making it the least resilient location.
- London and Milton Keynes are the second least resilient locations, both seeing an overall decline of -40%.
- The UK’s second and third largest cities fared significantly better than London. Birmingham and Manchester fell by 18% and 21% respectively.
Re-Leased’s analysis is based on live rental collection data from over 10,000 properties and 35,000 leases on its platform, and includes office, industrial and retail assets.
Re-Leased’s CEO Tom Wallace said “Behind the overall UK picture, there are significant variations in rent collection across key regions and cities. However, while some locations have proved more resilient than others, our research shows that landlords across the country are seeing concerning drops in rent receipts because of coronavirus. Many will be facing serious financial pressures as a result of these declines. Even a fall of -7% is a considerable adjustment to factor into your cash flow.”
Wallace continued, “Landlords need to work as closely as they can with their tenants to understand what payments may or may not be possible during these difficult times. These conversations will be particularly important as we get closer to June quarter date next month. We also encourage tenants to pay what they can afford, to help mitigate the financial strain landlords are now facing.”
The complete list of all 20 cities and towns analysed is available in the report.