A robust year for the industrial and logistics market in West Yorkshire and the Humber saw transactional take-up reach a three-year high of 2.1 million sq ft (units over 50,000 sq ft), according to global property consultancy Knight Frank’s latest Logic Report.
This represents a 25% increase from 2023 levels and is reflecting the pre-pandemic 5-year average.
Iain McPhail, partner in Knight Frank’s Yorkshire Industrial & Logistics team, commented: “Although Q4 was a quieter quarter, with just two transactions totalling 200,000 sq ft, an additional 932,000 sq ft of space was under offer at year-end, boding well for a strong start to 2025.”
He continued: “The delivery of new speculative schemes to the region over the past 18 months has played a crucial role in boosting take-up volumes. Five speculatively built units were signed up in 2024—contributing to 23% of the year’s total—compared with just one in 2023. In addition, the return of second-hand space has also provided occupiers with more choice, resulting in a 45% annual uplift in take-up of second-hand space.”
Prime rents in Leeds grew by 5.1% in 2024, to £9.20 psf (units 50,000 sq ft+). Prime rents across West Yorkshire and the Humber have grown by 36% over the past three years, driven by the dearth of new, prime units available.
While distribution firms accounted for 34% of 2024’s take up, some large transactions by manufacturers boosted their share of the total to 44%, from 25% the previous year. During 2024, manufacturers took 859,000 sq ft of space, up from 407,000 sq ft in 2023 and 262,000 sq ft in 2022.
Overall, demand was highest for 50,000 - 100,000 sq ft units, accounting for 10 of the 18 units transacted during the year.
Iain commented: “2024 has seen industrial and logistics take up in the region return to the pre-pandemic average of around 2 million sq ft (units 50,000 sq ft+). We have seen several large units transact to manufacturers (notably on a freehold basis), including the former Hallmark Cards facility in Bradford (315,000 sq ft), sold to Airedale, and the former Ilke Homes factory (275,000 sq ft) in Knaresborough, acquired by Shepley Spring.
“Whilst the distribution (3PL) market continues to transition from the super-charged COVID conditions as well as focus on back-filling ‘grey-space’, there have been a handful of property transactions in this sector during the year. Notably, Oakland International and Campeys of Selby taking two of the three speculative new-build units at Konect 62 in Selby, amounting to around 220,000 sq ft of space.
“Prime, new build space has performed well this year with four out of the six speculative mid-box units at Leeds Valley Park either let or under offer, 4th Industrials’ two-unit Interchange 26 development in Cleckheaton is now fully let, and UBS’s Velocity Point scheme in Leeds centre has only one unit remaining.”
Meanwhile, the completion of two new best-in-class speculative warehouse units at Baytree Leeds (76,000 sq ft and 145,000 sq ft) just before year end nudged the availability of existing stock up by 3.0% to 4.2 million sq ft (units 50,000 sq ft+) and the vacancy rate up by 10bps to 6.2%. The supply of second-hand space declined 3.3% during Q4.
Despite the delivery of new stock and return of second-hand space during 2024, robust take up levels left availability at year-end 2024 roughly on par with the same time last year. In addition to three quick deals completing in Jan 25, means that there is currently only eight new units available, all of which are under 200,000 sq ft.
Iain continued: “Further to this, just 13 months’ worth of existing supply is now available based on the region’s five-year average annual take up. Development activity has come to a halt for now, with the only two commencements during 2024 now complete and no speculative development underway at year-end. Take-up is expected to be robust during the opening months of 2025, supported by the considerable volume of space under offer. Combined with a slowdown of second-hand stock, the region’s vacancy rate is likely to edge down in the first half of the year.”
Prime rents have now broken the £10psf barrier with the latest 55,000 sq ft deal to complete at Leeds Valley Park to online retailer Wayfair and the latest average rental growth forecasts for Leeds predict 4.1% growth for 2025 and 3.6% growth across the region of Yorkshire & the Humber.
Prime industrial yields in Leeds sharpened by 25 basis points (bps) in Q4 to 5.25%, having bottomed out at 5.50% for six consecutive quarters between Q2 2023 and Q3 2024. At 5.25%, prime yields remain 200 bps softer than its previous peak of 3.25% in Q1 2022. Sentiment improved during the second half of 2024, with the base rate reductions providing confidence to investors around pricing and some more aggressive bidding taking place.
A significant transaction in the final quarter was Leftfield Capital’s acquisition of Prism Park in Wakefield, from Equation Properties for £32 million. At this level, the price reflected a net initial yield of 5.25%. The park comprises two newly constructed units rated BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and EPC ‘A’ with the larger 150,000 sq ft let to IFCO Systems until 2039 and the 57,000 sq ft unit available.
Graham Foxton, Knight Frank partner Leeds Capital Markets, commented: “West Yorkshire & the Humber has experienced strong levels of investment activity in 2024, with year-on-year figures showing roughly double the investment volume seen in 2023 at the time of writing. This shows that buyers and sellers are aligning in their pricing expectations, and we expect demand for the industrial sector to continue throughout the region in 2025.”
