Growing confidence in the retail sector led to a jump in occupier activity over the last 12 months, according to EGi Retail Research.
Lettings rose 8% nationally for the year to May 2015, boosted by lettings growth of a third in the West Midlands along with big gains in Scotland (29%), and the North West (19%).
Speaking at EG’s Retail Summit, Graham Shone, senior analyst at EGi, said that if leasing activity continues at its current rate then by the end of the year then availability will stand at just 3.3 years nationally.
“There are still pockets of the country in need of a retail overhaul but in general terms, it appears the physical side of retail’s multi-channel offering is in better health than is perhaps the perception.
“This is the second year running we have seen a substantial uptick in leasing activity – and, even more encouragingly, most regions have enjoyed an increased occupation rate with fewer years of stock on the market than at this point last year.”
Increasing retail conversions have contributed to the reduction in stock (see map for locations below) . The last 18 months have seen 1.1m sq ft of retail space converted to leisure, 816,000 sq ft converted to restaurants and bars, and another 42,000 sq ft to betting shops.
There is almost 6m sq ft of new stock in the pipeline to be delivered next year and a further 5.5m sq ft by 2017, Shone added.
Click to interact with the bar chart below. Click on the buttons to change the view between availability and lease lengths. Hover over the bars to see absolute values.
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Loss of retail space throughout the UK. Hover on the dots to see locations.
