Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is one of our largest and most active regions; it covers a broad area of the North West and encompasses a vast network of motorways spanning outwards from the M60 ring road. Areas to the north and west of Manchester typically see most activity; however, there are established logistics parks throughout the region. Land availability remains an issue, especially around key locations such as Trafford Park.

The region continues to be a favoured location by occupiers for large regional distribution centres, with The Hut Group and DSG Retail committing to space in 2020 and L’Oreal pre-letting a large unit at Northern Gateway. However, 2020 development activity was subdued in an historic sense, with pre-lets driving activity and only a few speculative schemes such as Panattoni Park Bolton and Icon Manchester Airport getting underway. Secondhand availability increased in 2020 as unwanted stock was returned to the market, despite Tesco reoccupying some of their marketed space to deal with an increase in orders mid-pandemic. On balance though, demand is outstripping supply, particularly prime supply, and we forecast an above average 3.3% prime rental growth over the next 3 years.