Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol were among the European cities experiencing the highest growth in prime industrial rents during the first half of the year.
The news comes in the latest Industrial and Logistics Snapshot from global property advisers Colliers International, which shows that Edinburgh led the UK surge with an increase of 11.1 per cent.
Double figure increases were also reported in Glasgow and Manchester (10 per cent), while Bristol saw rents rise by 8.3 per cent. Other positive performances were observed in Rotterdam (7.9 per cent) and Budapest (6.5 per cent).
At the other end of the scale, Minsk reported the biggest decline, with prime rents falling by 15.5 per cent in H1. The Belarusian capital was closely followed by Kiev (14.9 per cent) and St Petersburg where prime rents fell by 8.3 per cent.
Discussing the findings Tim Davies (pictured) the Bristol-based Head of EMEA Industrial and Logistics at Colliers International, said: “The industrial and logistics market in Europe continues to be characterised by constrained availability of high quality warehouse and distribution space.
“Despite this, prime logistics rents remained stable in the vast majority of markets in the first half of 2015. The supply of quality product remains limited in the UK and this fact, combined with increased demand, has led to a rise in rents across all locations for prime stock in H1 2015.
“The UK continues to lead the way in terms of increased activity, but the rest of Europe is beginning to follow suit.
He continued to say that all UK markets reported increasing rental levels, reflecting increasing occupational demand and an erosion of supply. This situation is expected to lead to a greater level of speculative development, particularly in the strongest performing locations, now that finance is more readily available.
