2025 Investment Volume 34% Above 10-year Average

Industrial investment volume reached £4.6bn in the final quarter of 2025, taking annual levels to £13.3bn, a 23% increase on the previous year. This was the busiest quarter for over three years, even excluding the highlight deal of Tritax’s £1bn purchase of a Blackstone portfolio.

Number of Investment Deals Falls Below Average

The actual number of deals remains below average. Portfolio sales and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) reached a total of £7bn investment volume in the sector in 2025, making up the majority of all activity at 52% - a record high. This is the result of cross-border investment seeking to invest in the market at scale. In contrast, the number of sales of individual assets remains suppressed.

2025 Occupier Demand Reaches 3-year High

Annual big box demand of 31.7m sq ft represents a 16% increase year-on-year. While this falls short of the 10-year average, it represents an 8% increase on the 5-year pre-pandemic average (2015-2019).

Occupiers Want Best-in-class

Big box occupiers continue to seek the best units available, with c.70% space taken new to the market, including BTS and pre-let opportunities. This includes global logistics firm DSV’s pre-let of IM Properties of c.600,000 sq ft in Mercia Park, Derby. Another Q4 2025 pre-let includes Ares management’s refurbished Aylesford 245, a significant deal in the South East.

Speculative Development Increases at Low Rate

Supply of units over 100,000 sq ft have increased c.5% q/q due to second-hand stock returning to the market (65% of all stock). The lack of new developments and relatively low supply of new, grade A units to the market mean that competition for best-in-class supply will encourage moderate rental growth and a continued drive towards build-to-suit opportunities. There are 6.5m sq ft big box developments due to complete across the UK in 2026.

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