Although Humberside sits on the eastern stretch of the M62 and allows easy access to major ports such as Immingham and Hull, the location is often seen as too restrictive for many occupiers, so tends to predominantly attract regional occupiers. The prospect of certain locations being allocated ‘freeport’ status by the government has the potential to significantly impact the future supply and demand profile in this region. Proportionately there is certainly more brownfield land in the region to accommodate further development.
Clipper Logistics let Logicor’s Sherburn 667 in 2020, which was one of the largest secondhand lettings of the year. Generally speaking, demand has been below average and development activity driven by pre-lets. There has been no speculative development in the region for 5 years, and occupiers have either taken secondhand space or agreed to pre-let space at Enterprise Zones such as those in Goole. We do not envisage this pattern of demand will change drastically in the near term, given its typical regional occupier base, but the shortage of good quality space will keep upward pressure on rents, which we expect will average 2.4% over the next 3 years.
