Vacancy rates in the Yorkshire and Humberside out of town retail sector have fallen to their lowest point since before 2006 – with a vacancy rate that is less than half of the highest rate recorded for the region, according to The Definitive Guide to Retail & Leisure Parks 2015.
The rate fell to 6.6% at the end of 2014 – down from a mid-2009 peak for the region of 14%. The figures were revealed at the Yorkshire and Humberside regional launch of the report by Trevor Wood Associates at an event hosted by JLL in their Leeds office.
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 shows that the region closely follows the trends of the UK as a whole. The top regional tenant, in common with the majority of the UK, is B&Q. Similarly the top regional investment manager for both retail parks and retail warehousing is the UK leader British Land whilst the top regional letting agent for retail warehousing is Wilkinson Williams, again the UK number one and the top regional managing agent for retail warehousing is Savills.
In total 146 schemes within the Yorkshire and Humberside 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: “Yorkshire and Humberside has achieved its lowest ever vacancy rate for the region but interestingly the report shows that unlike some regions the area closely follows the trends of the UK as a whole with the same retailers and agents leading the pack for the region as for the UK as a whole – one of the only areas of the UK where that is the case.”
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.
