Commercial property sector in Covid fallout

Demand for office, retail and industrial units experiencing steep decline

The global pandemic continues to take its toll on the South East commercial market, as the Q2 2020 RICS UK Commercial Property Survey points to a decline across the region’s office, retail and industrial sectors.

In Q2, 62 per cent saw occupier demand decline.

The South East retail sector has seen the biggest drop in interest with 79 per cent of respondents seeing a fall in demand.

This is the largest drop for the region since the survey began in 1998.

With a national increase in people working from home, demand for office space also fell dramatically this quarter with 87 per cent of agents reporting the fall.

Finally, demand fell for industrial space – with 22 per cent reporting a fall in interest.

The fall in demand in response to the economic fallout means the near-term outlook for rents across the South East’s commercial sector is now negative across the board.

Retail is unsurprisingly expected to see the biggest fall (77 per cent) in rents over the next three months, while 15 per cent of respondents expect industrial rents to fall.

In the office sector, 61 per cent of local respondents expect rents to fall in the coming three months.

Contributing to the adverse sentiment around offices, 93 per cent of respondents anticipate that businesses will scale back their space requirements in the coming two years.

Although interest in retail in general has fallen, some anecdotal evidence in the survey points to opportunity and interest in secondary units, in some instances perhaps due to the potential for conversion to housing as well as appetite from some independent businesses looking for space in local high streets.

This is perhaps indicative of a broader shift around commercial location in the wake of the pandemic.

In another question asked nationally, respondents were asked if they felt demand for office space in suburban locations may rise in place of urban centres over the next two years.

Sixty-four per cent felt this shift would occur.

This not only suggests there could be some significant changes in store for the office sector moving forward, but also interestingly, a potential driver for regional high streets.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests there will also be a shift to higher quality office space, with more focus on well-being and sustainability.

Looking further ahead, the 12-month rental expectations for the South East’s retail space point to further decline, as rents are likely to fall by 12 per cent and 13 per cent for prime and secondary retail space over the coming year.

Respondents expect slight growth in rents for the prime industrial sector.

Finally, the region’s office space is set to see rents fall by five per cent for prime office space and seven per cent for secondary space.

RICS economist Tarrant Parsons said: “The latest survey feedback unsurprisingly reflects the significant disruption and uncertainty that emerged across the economy during the lockdown period.

“With demand from both occupiers and investors falling sharply, respondents now anticipate rents and capital values will come under downward pressure while the market adjusts to a drastically changed economic environment.

“In particular, the recent shift into remote-working raises many questions across the office sector, with respondents expecting businesses to re-evaluate their office space requirements over the next two years.

“On a brighter note, the outlook is already showing signs of recovery across the industrial sector, which remains set to benefit longer-term from an acceleration in the growth of ecommerce.”