Logistics lettings in region on the up

Between April and June, 1.6m sq ft was taken up in the area and there is an additional 200,000 sq ft under offer, according to latest research from CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

Nationally, 7.9m sq ft was let, taking UK logistics leasing activity for the first half of 2010 to 14.10m sq ft, close to the 14.2m sq ft for the whole of 2009.

Roger Haworth, senior director of CBRE Sheffield, said: "The high take-up levels recorded reflect improving sentiment among occupiers of UK logistics property and their drive to lease quality space to suit their long-terms needs."

He added: "The biggest deals of the quarter highlight two features that are returning to the logistics market – large pre-lets and the driving force of the retail sector.

"There were six UK deals during Q2 that were more than 500,000 sq ft. This is the largest number of quarterly deals in this size bracket over the course of the past five years.

"Four of the six deals were pre-lets and all six deals were let to large retailers – Tesco, B&Q, JD Sport, Amazon and most locally, ASOS at Crossflow, Barnsley."

The Yorkshire region is home to 23 per cent of all UK industrial units more than 100,000sq ft in size.

Ian Kissane, director of UK research at CBRE, said: "Supply of 100,000 sq ft logistics units has declined by 13.5 per cent from its peak in Q3 2009 to 49.2 million sq ft.

"Sixty-nine per cent of space available remains predominantly second hand. This mix compares to the position at the end of December 2008, when second-hand space accounted for 45 per cent of space available."

Compared to 2009 levels, the availability of new space has declined by nearly 37 per cent to just 15.4m sq ft across all mainland UK regions and very few new units of logistics space are currently being built.