New data from CBRE reveals constrained supply in the North West logistics market will see rents continue to rise with take-up in the second quarter of 2024 up 54%. Tony McDonough reports

North West logistics take-up totalled 1.2m sq ft in the second quarter of 2024, 54% higher than the first quarter, new data from CBRE reveals.

This total was spread across six deals according to CBRE’s Q2 Logistics Market report. It adds that constrained supply going into the second half of 2024 will mean rents will continue to rise.

In July, B8 Real Estate published a report stating growing demand for ‘big box’ industrial units in the North West is likely to see a rise in investment in the second half of 2024.

CBRE says almost half of the quarter’s take-up in the North West came from secondhand buildings, followed by speculative at 37%, with 1.4m sq ft under offer at the end of Q2 across six units.

Availability in the region decreased by 12% quarter-on-quarter to 4.3m sq ft in Q2. Out of the available space, most was in newly completed speculative units at 58% and speculative under construction at 32%.

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Paul Cook, senior director at CBRE in the region, said: “Following limited take up in Q1, we have seen a different picture in Q2 which demonstrates the resilience of the North West market.

“Supply remains constrained and will be further eroded given the number of units currently under offer and combined with a limited development pipeline, we expect to see continued rental growth over the coming months.”

Nationally, take-up totalled 11.7m sq ft for the first half of the year, 18% higher than H1 2023. Available space at the end of H1 totalled 38.8m sq ft, up 2% QoQ.

25 deals completed nationally in the second quarter, bringing the H1 total to 45 deals. Twenty-nine units were under offer at the end of Q2, totalling 12.1m sq ft, down by 14.7% from Q1 2024.