New EG Report Shows Most Sought After Locations and Sectors in the Commercial Real Estate Market

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EG, an established provider of data, news and analytics products and services for the commercial real estate market, has revealed the latest trends around the search for commercial property space in the EG Propertylink Occupier Sentiment Report ‘The new normal: The property landscape after lockdown’.

Using enquiry data from EG Propertylink, the report explores how location and sector priorities of commercial space have shifted this year. It compares activity in H1 2021 with the same period in 2020 and 2019 to show where the biggest changes have occurred and what the most sought-after locations and sectors are.

Key findings from the report include:

• London has remained dominant in the office market despite occupiers and investors scoping out new locations. The capital continues to account for 17.3% of office enquiries. However, the number of locations with more than 100 office enquiries rose by 63% between H1 2020 and H1 2021.
• Industrial has come out of lockdown the clear winner. Enquiries in the sector were 37% above where they were before the pandemic in H1 2019. In recent months, however, retail has overtaken industrial as the most sought-after sector.
• Secondary locations such as Peterborough have seen tremendous growth across every sector. Retail and office enquiries were up 141% and 137%, while industrial rose 72% and leisure rose 61% between H1 2020 and H1 2021.

The report also explores how cities like Leicester and Manchester have come out of their prolonged local lockdowns, what the lasting effects of those have been and how we can expect demand to shift in coming months.

There is a focus on the rise of even smaller locations – from Acton to Bletchley – as occupiers and investors shift towards more granular enquiries where it’s no longer just the wider area but the specific place that drives interest.

David Salisbury, EG Propertylink Group Head, said: ‘Commercial real estate is in a fascinating period of flux right now. Coming out of lockdown, we’re seeing retail rebound and once again become the biggest sector for enquiries. But we’re also seeing new trends and what will likely be the lasting effects of the past 18 months. From the steady rise of secondary cities to newfound interest in remote and satellite offices, this is an exciting time for changes in the UK commercial property landscape.’

To find out where the UK’s rising hotspots are and how sector demand has evolved since 2019, download the report.

About EG

EG is an established provider of data, news and analytics products and services for the commercial real estate market. EG products and services address the challenges and the data demands of all sectors and industries within UK commercial real estate. We deliver industry-leading events and weekly magazine content, and market leading data products including EG Radius, the only contributory data sharing platform for the UK commercial property market.

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