Our monthly property market review is intended to provide background to recent developments in the property markets as well as to give an indication of how some key issues could impact in the future.
Overview
UK WAREHOUSE TAKE-UP VARIES REGIONALLY
Savills recent ‘Spotlight: Big Shed Briefing’ publication, focused on the UK warehouse sector, shows strong overall take-up, with wide regional variations. Take-up for H1 2019 increased 28% on the long-term average for the first half of a year, reaching 16.07m sq. ft. Taken in isolation, Q2 was exceptional with 9.55m sq. ft. transacted, making it the highest level of Q2 take-up since 2014 and the second best Q2 on record. Demand is coming from a wide variety of tenants.
CO-WORKING SUCCESS AFFECTS DESK PRICES
Over the last few years, the rise of the co-working and flexible workspace sector has been prolific. Supply of these spaces has risen sharply and demand has out-paced supply, pushing prices higher. However, according to research from Instant Group, flexible office specialists, while demand remains robust, the massive spike in supply has caused the prices flexible office operators can charge, to fall in the world’s largest cities.
CONSTRUCTION SLOWDOWN AS DEMAND FALTERS
Recent data has revealed a loss of momentum for the UK construction sector. Activity and incoming commercial property, new home and civil projects, have fallen at the fastest pace for over a decade, as new orders tail off.
MORTGAGE ACTIVITY
- Gross mortgage lending across the residential market in May 2019 was £21.9 billion
- This figure is 0.4% lower than May 2018
HOUSE PRICES HEADLINE STATISTICS
- UK house prices grew by 1.2% in the year to May 2019, down from 1.5% in the year to April 2019
- House price growth was strongest in the North West where prices increased by 3.4% in the year to May 2019
- The lowest annual growth was in London, where prices fell by 4.4% over the year to May 2019