East Midlands commercial market review

For commercial property in Leicestershire, 2014 has proven to be a very positive year. 

The market has grown without becoming unmanageable; something that has busted several “booms” that we’ve seen labelled as recoveries in recent years.

This growth has been especially noticed in the East Midlands, where here at Andrew Granger & Co we perform the majority of our work. The East Midlands has plenty going for it at the moment – an excellent road and rail network, a major airport, a wide-ranging tourist industry and a real depth of cultural diversity. Andrew Granger & Co seeks to promote these benefits to inspire further growth in Leicestershire’s commercial property sector.

Evidence of both Leicestershire and the East Midland’s advancements is clear from the £4million worth of buildings that reached the market in a particularly hectic July period. This included a 35,000 square feet listed building near De Montfort University, intended for the renting and purchase of 42 apartments.

There have been further positive signs in the rural commercial property sector, with Andrew Granger & Co leading the way on high-profile properties like The Manor at Tur Langton; a particularly popular building for those looking to purchase a rent rural office space. Marston Trussell has seen a similar upturn in rural properties and is now fully let after several months of inoccupation. Local Authorities realisation on the importance of fast broadband access and subsequent provision of such has been named as the biggest contributor to this recent success.

Another Leicestershire region in which the commercial property market is seeing something of a surge is the popular town of Market Harborough. Its affluent population and increasing popularity with tourists has contributed to an increase in rents with a converse decrease in vacancies, bucking something of a national trend in those areas.

Andrew Granger & Co has a strong presence in the Harborough area, something that has been reinforced by its involvement as letting agents for three of the retail units available since the renovation of Symington House; a coffee shop, a convenience store and an ice cream parlour. While the above demonstrates positive movements within the Harborough commercial property sector, the potential effects of the incoming construction of a large Tesco supermarket are as of yet ambiguous and something worth keeping an eye on.

Elsewhere in Leicestershire, Loughborough is also experiencing significant changes thanks to the construction of the new Inner Relief Road, intended to divert traffic away from the A6. While this is proving a positive change for many businesses, there have been complaints that some are being adversely affected due to the deviation in traffic flow and the loss of parking and loading facilities. Loughborough is an interesting town in the way that it is almost entirely dominated by students who, naturally, have less spending power and alternative retail requirements compared to other demographics. As such it has been argued that Loughborough has been over compensated for in terms of retail, something that the current reconfiguration of the town centre is aiming to alleviate.

Leicestershire’s commercial property market is experiencing some dramatic changes at the moment and, while the true benefits and affects of this are not abundantly clear yet, it is no doubt contributing to the recent market growth in the East Midlands region. Long may it continue.