The supply of industrial and distribution warehousing space in the greater Reading area is at its lowest level for close to a decade, which is holding back business growth and forcing occupiers to look elsewhere, reports Haslams Surveyors.
The annual report takes in the greater Reading conurbation, covering Reading Borough Council and large parts of Wokingham District Council and West Berkshire Council.
Haslams finds the supply of industrial and warehouse property across the region is just 40 units, totalling 540,000 square feet, with limited new stock available. It says there is a potential “planning-ready” development pipeline of 350,000 square feet in the next 18 months.
The five-year average has been 599,000 square feet of supply, way down from the 1.4 million square feet in 2010, Haslams reports.
Occupier take-up last year was 300,000 square feet, with the figures curtailed by a lack of supply. The five-year average for take-up is 492,066 square feet.
A relatively rare letting during the period saw Swiftpak take 20,088 square feet at RTP Real Estate's Unit 1, Total Park in Theale. Haslams advised RTP.
Haslams says there is evidence of occupiers having to move outside of the conurbation. CoStar News can reveal a clear example completed at the end of last year.
TP-Link has signed to leave its home of the last 15 years at Units 2 and 3 Riverview on Cardiff Road in Reading for an 80,000-square-foot warehouse at Greenham Common in Thatcham. The WiFi networking devices manufacturer is moving to Unit 2 at Ashford Developments' A34 Connect. Ashford is advised by Hatch Real Estate and Hollis Hockley.
Haslams says a combination of higher build costs, planning difficulties and a troubled geopolitical and financial background deterred many developers and investors in the last 12 months.
“The region faces a challenging situation,” said the report’s author Neil Seager, managing partner of Haslams. “With a lack of choice in terms of location, size and price, businesses are naturally casting their net much wider when they look to expand.”
In tandem with the UK market rental levels continued to rise but at a slower pace due to the lack of new stock.
Haslams Surveyors is Reading-based and is one of southern England’s largest independent commercial property agents and chartered surveyors.