Kingsturge - March Industrial & Distribution Floorspace Report (Oct - Dec 2002)
The total level of immediately available floorspace across the Britain Isles rose by 1.4% on the previous quarter, the ninth consecutive quarter in which the level of availability increased. The level of immediately available space across Great Britain stood at nearly 18 million m2 in December 2002. This was 39.9% higher than the low-point in availability recorded 3 years ago.
The amount of new floorspace on the market increased by 7.3% compared with Kingsturge's previous survey, whilst available floorspace in large units of 10,000 m2 and over rose by 5.6%. New floorspace accounted for 9.6% of total available floorspace in December 2002.
In terms of large units, supply mainly consists of land being marketed by developers. However, Kingsturge's records show that as at January 2003 there were nine buildings under construction on a speculative basis over 9,290 m2 (100,000ft2). In total these offer around 175,000 m2 of available floorspace.
The overall amount of space under construction on a speculative basis stood at around 511,004 m2, which was slightly higher than the last quarter, but approximately 20% lower than a year ago.
The take up of large new distribution units fell back last year compared to 2001; however 2001 represented the highest level of take-up for eight years.
The rise in availability meant a slowing in the rental value growth. Rents grew by 0.8% in 2002, compared to 2.4% in 2001; the 2003 rental growth is predicted by Kingsturge to be around the 1% level.
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