Despite the uncertainties and frustrations surrounding the Brexit ‘deal’, or lack of it, the Basingstoke Commercial property market has held up well throughout 2018.
In the Office sector, major transactions have been concluded with:
The latter transaction rather ‘skews’ the overall take up figure of 385,820 sq ft – some 52% of this total reflects genuine Occupier take up in either lettings or sales.
Separately, the market for Permitted Development conversion opportunities may have ‘cooled’ a little, perhaps with specialist PD developers recognising that there are now a considerable number of apartments and flats in the pipeline at a time when the housing sector appears to have slowed. Nevertheless, an extra 143,000 sq ft of office space has been sold for conversion this year, of which the ex-Shire Pharmaceuticals building comprised 81,000 sq ft.
The local Industrial/Warehouse market continues to show resilience and has been the best performing sector in Basingstoke in recent years. It is arguable that take up figures could, and would, have been higher had the supply of ‘sheds’ been more widespread. We are aware of a handful of prospective moves having been thwarted due to a lack of appropriate availability.
The principal transactions that have been completed include:
We estimate total take up in this sector this year to have been c.300,000 sq ft. Supply levels remain limited for now, particularly at either end of the size spectrum, but reassuringly, two or three developers have increasing ambitions towards speculative developments if they can either secure freehold land or re-gear long leaseholds held with the Council, on fundable terms.
As for 2019 … potentially the most unpredictable year for a decade in the property sector, but we love a challenge!
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Contact for further information:
Richard Thomas
Baker Davidson Thomas
E-mail: richard.thomas@bdt.uk.com
Telephone: 01256 840 777
January 2019
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