Vacancy rates in the North West out of town retail sector have fallen to their lowest point since the end of 2007, dropping to 9% in 2014, according to The Definitive Guide to Retail & Leisure Parks 2015.
The figure is down from a 2009 peak of 12.9% and is the lowest since a rate of 8.5% was recorded at the end of 2007.
The figures were revealed at the North West regional launch of the report by Trevor Wood Associates at an event hosted by Workman Retail at The Great Northern.
National results showed that overall vacancy rates for the retail warehousing market were at their lowest since 2004, down to 7.1% at the end of 2014 from a peak of 10% in mid-2013.
A major factor in the turnaround has been demand from comparison goods retailers, which at the end of 2014 occupied 54.6% of retail warehouse space (excluding DIY), up from 53.2% the previous year. Almost 2.5 million sq ft was taken during the year by just ten retailers: B & M, Marks & Spencer, Home Bargains, The Range, TK Maxx, Poundland, Smyths Toys, Sports Direct, Dunelm and Pets at Home.
The report highlights the growth in floorspace of value retailer B & M as discount retailers increase their footprints across the UK. The trend follows the rise in discount and budget retailers identified in Going Shopping 2015 – The Definitive Guide to Shopping Centres, published by Trevor Wood Associates last year.
The out of town retail report shows that B & M has risen to sixth place in the Top 10 Retail Park Tenants rankings, up from 11th position in 2013.This follows a 30% increase in square footage – up from 2.28 million sq ft to 2.97 million sq ft in 2014.
The report showed that B&Q was the top regional tenant for retail parks in the area, the same as in the UK as a whole. The leading regional investment manager for retail parks was British Land, also the UK leader. The same firm also topped the region and the UK as a whole for the retail warehousing market. Wilkinson Williams was the top regional letting agent for the retail warehousing market and in the UK while the top managing agent for the retail warehousing market in both the North West and the UK was Savills.
The North West’s Middlebrook Retail & Leisure Park in Bolton remains the largest retail park in the UK while the region’s New Mersey Shopping Park in Liverpool ranks eighth overall in the UK.
In total 178 schemes within the North West region are featured in the report which comprises analysis of 1,550 UK schemes in total as well as 79 schemes “in the pipeline”.
Trevor Wood, senior partner of Trevor Wood Associates, said: “The North West shows its strength as a relatively stable market for this sector and has achieved its lowest vacancy rate in eight years with the prospects looking positive for the future.”
The Definitive Guide to Retail & Leisure Parks 2015, at 364 pages in length, is the biggest to date and includes two new major analyses. These include analysis of retailers who went into administration or restructured and analysis of the fastest growing and decreasing tenants.
