The supply of industrial and distribution warehousing space in the greater Reading area is at its lowest level for almost a decade and is hampering business growth and forcing occupiers to look elsewhere according to a new report by Haslams Surveyors.
The annual report covers the greater Reading conurbation encompassing Reading Borough Council and large parts of Wokingham District Council and West Berkshire Council.
The current supply of industrial and warehouse property across the region is just 40 units, totalling 540,000 sq ft, with limited new stock available.
There is a potential “planning ready” development pipeline of 350,000 sq ft in the next 18 months.
Occupier take up curtailed by the lack of supply in the past year was almost 300,000 sq ft.
A combination of higher build costs, planning difficulties and a troubled geopolitical and financial background deterred many developers and investors in the last twelve months.
“The region faces a challenging situation,” said the report’s author Neil Seager, Managing Partner of Haslams. “With a lack of choice in terms of location, size and price, businesses are naturally casting their net much wider when they look to expand.”
In tandem with the UK market rental levels continued to rise but at a slower pace due to the lack of new stock.
Haslams Surveyors is Reading-based and is one southern England’s largest independent commercial property agents and chartered surveyors. It is a dominant force in the industrial and distribution warehouse sector and last year advised the landlord or the tenant on over 80% of the transactions in Greater Reading.
