A lack of premium buildings saw take-up of industrial units in Scotland plunged by more than a quarter last year, according to data from Colliers International.
Companies bought or rented around 5.8m sq ft of industrial space across Scotland in 2018, down by 29% on 2017 and 34% below the five-year average of 8.8m sq ft.
West Scotland, which accounted for 40% of Scotland’s total take-up, saw take-up of only 2.3m sq ft in 2018, down by 22% on the previous year, Colliers reported.
The largest deals included Eurocentral, where Brewdog acquired the 129,000 sq ft Vertex building, and Grayling Capital the 122,000 sq ft Titan warehouse.
In east Scotland, which includes Edinburgh, Falkirk and Grangemouth, take-up fell from 1.3m sq ft in 2017 to 1.1m sq ft.
The largest deal in the east of Scotland was to packaging company Nampak at Fraser Road, at £4.40 per sq ft.
Colliers added that the sub-15,000 sq ft size band has remained the most active, accounting for 44% of total take-up. There were no industrial sector deals above 200,000 sq ft north of the border in 2018.
Iain Davidson, director of industrial and logistics at Colliers International’s Glasgow office, said: “In west Scotland, availability has been declining over the past few years to the present 7%, representing a whopping 46% reduction from the 2011 peak of 13%.
“We are currently aware of a number of unsatisfied requirements due to the dearth of suitable properties – whether that be because of size, location, specification or tenure.
“The development pipeline is very limited, with only 500,000 sq ft under construction or planned across west Scotland this year. This represents approximately two months’ take-up, based on the five-year take-up average.
“The past few years have seen good rental growth across all size bands with prime small-mid size rents typically between £7.50 and £8.50 per sq ft. Last year, rents generally remained stable at these high levels, with achieved rents reinforcing some ‘notional’ rentals reported in previous years.”
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