Last night saw the kick off to the 2015 Rugby world cup, where 48 games will span across 13 stadiums throughout England and Wales in a jam packed event.
Now for the selected hosting towns, they will be graced with a number of obvious benefits, such as increased footfall, retail and F&B sales as well as profile increase for the town. But of course, with every positive, a negative is waiting on the sidelines ready to be brought onto the pitch.
In Lambert Smith Hampton’s Rugby World Cup Venue Review, it analyses the change in property rents across office, retail and industrial sectors in all 13 locations in run up to the tournament, looking at how the destinations faired since the last event four years ago.
CEO of Lambert Smith Hampton, Ezra Nahome, commented: “The property market is in a much better place than the last time we were preparing to cheer on England in a Rugby World Cup; occupier confidence has returned, speculative development is back on the agenda in a meaningful way, investment is nudging record levels, and the regions have emerged from London’s shadow as the main driver of activity.”
Firstly, the three London venues, Stratford, Twickenham and Wembley has kept at a strong level over the past four years, with Twickenham seeing a 36% increase in prime office rents to £26.50 per sq ft (psf), while Wembley and Stratford have seen substantial growth, increasing by 75% to £35 psf.
Then we have Birmingham, which has seen a strong rental growth across all sectors, with office and retail rents growing by 7%, while industrial prime rents increased by 18%. Meanwhile its northern cousin, Manchester, has suffered a 15% decrease in industrial rents, but performed strongly in office rental growth, seeing a rise of 14% and sustained retail growth of 10%.
Hosting five games between them, Brighton and Leicester have seen a substantial increase in industrial prime rents of 29% and 10% respectively. While Exeter has suffered flat-lined rents across all three sectors.
In Leeds, retail rents is the star player, leaping by 19% to £250 psf, while Gloucester has seen the opposite for its retail, dropping a hefty 26%.
The welsh capital and home to the second largest sports venue in the world- Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, will be hosting eight of the matches this year. However despite the popularity, it’s only seen a modest growth of 5% for the industrial and office sectors, while retail rents have seen no growth.
Finally Newcastle, who will host a crucial match between South Africa and Scotland, saw a 9% growth in industrial rents and 8% in prime office rents. Then Milton Keynes, with its strategic location and proximity to London, has seen a growth of 8% in prime office rents to £21.50 psf.
