Depth and diversification will drive logistics growth – Victoria Towers writes for React News

The emergence of a new sub-sector of alternative uses is providing opportunities for investors and developers.

Commercial Real Estate Partner and Co-Head of Logistics, Victoria Towers, has guest written for React News on the rapid growth of the industrial and logistics market, resulting from changes in consumer behaviour thanks to the pandemic, the adoption of new technology, and the inexorable rise of e-commerce.

Contrary to popular belief that Amazon’s apparent reining in of its growing property requirements would curtail market growth, recent research from CBRE demonstrates a 10% growth in take-up of warehouse space between the first half of this year and last, alongside a UK vacancy rate of 1.2% – a new record low.

Towers describes how such growth and confidence in the sector can be attributed to the diversity across its occupier base. Production and distribution, life sciences, and light industry are all sectors worth mentioning, whilst “data centres have [also] become critical pieces of national infrastructure, required to store and process the data by the move to cloud-based computing.”

The lack of supply and high interest in this sector will continue to fuel the meteoric rise of the industrials and logistics market, and the diversification of the occupier base means that the pace of this growth may yet accelerate further. Landlords and developers must be forward-thinking and quick-moving in order to flourish and meet this growing demand from uses which will, over time, emerge from the alternative to the mainstream class.

This article originally appeared in React News on 21 July 2022, available here behind their paywall.