The North East has performed well above the average for industrial absorption over the past 12 months, with 6.8 years of stock available based on its active take-up rate.
This compares with a nationwide average of four years, according to the latest figures from Radius Data Exchange.
At the other end of the scale, the South East and East Midlands markets were the most constrained in terms of available standing stock, with 3.5 and 3.9 years of supply respectively left on the market.
Developers have largely risen to the challenge of meeting soaring levels of demand for industrial and logistics space, driven by retailers expanding their online operations to accommodate Covid-19 and post-Brexit trends.
Total take-up in the UK has exceeded 78.2m sq ft in the past 12 months, while overall standing stock – which excludes developments that are still in the pipeline – tallies just over 351.7m sq ft nationally.
More than 50% of all industrial space submitted for planning consisted of big-box facilities measuring more than 500,000 sq ft, but smaller sheds of less than 20,000 sq ft made up the most applications in terms of volume, after filing 2,188 submissions.
Regionally, the number of planning applications submitted in response to the ongoing supply shortage varied dramatically during 2019.
While all regions posted a decline during the year, the South East and Wales were the only geographies that recorded an uptick in industrial planning activity compared with their respective five-year averages.
These regions increased planning application numbers by 5% and 34% respectively, compared with their five-year averages to the end of 2019. This contrasted with an overall five-year average decline of 22% in industrial planning activity across the UK.
The East Midlands remains one of the most constrained markets in terms of ready-to-occupy space, down 33% on planning activity last year compared with its five-year average.
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