A record headline rent of £6.75 per sq ft will be achieved at prime industrial and logistics sites in Warrington by the end of 2018, according to sector research by global real estate advisors Colliers International.
The firm’s analysis shows rents for prime industrial and logistics locations of more than 100,000 sq ft in Warrington had soared by 32 per cent in five years from £4.75 per sq ft in 2013 to a current high of £6.25 per sq ft as demand continues to outstrip supply.
The new high for the Cheshire town was the amount agreed by Royal Mail on 346,000 sq.ft at Mountpark’s Warrington, Omega scheme.
With no let up in demand for such strategically located sites that record is unlikely to last for long, with Colliers forecasting a further hike to £6.75 per sq ft at three other 100,000 sq ft-plus sites at Mountpark Warrington Omega, due for completion in late 2018 and the 92,400 sq ft Omega Point Warrington scheme of Brackley Developments / Cabot on completion a year later.
Demand for prime sites is being driven by major players in sectors including automotive, food distribution and manufacturing, online retail, medical and pharmaceutical, modular building providers, self storage specialists, parcel carriers and packaging firms.
Those in the market for major North West storage and distribution sites ranging is size from 300,000-600,000 sq ft include Boohoo.com, Ikea, Home Bargains, Amazon & Wincanton.
As per the table below, outside of Warrington, the highest current prime industrial rent being paid is in Manchester at 6.50 per sq ft – an increase of 35 per cent since 2013 – with the North West average at £5.93 per sq ft, up 26 per cent over the past five years.
Colliers’ research identified 13 speculative schemes of 90,000 sq ft-plus being underway and another 17 in the pipeline totalling about 2.5m sq ft as developers seek to meet the increasing needs of business in the North West.
John Sullivan, director, industrial and logistics at the North West offices of Colliers in Manchester and Liverpool, said: “Warrington continues to attract record high rental levels for prime sites in the North West of England because of its strategic positioning at the very heart of the region’s communications network offering occupiers easy access to regional, national and international markets.
“With the availability of big sheds in the region having declined by 66 per cent since 2010, and the e-tail economy booming in many sectors, the need for developers to provide locations of more than 100,000 sq ft is an absolute no brainer, thereby explaining the increasing number of speculate schemes underway and proposed over the next 18 months.”
