Southern West Midlands

The Southern West Midlands is known as one of the premier distribution warehouse locations in the country. It boasts the highest stock of all our regions, and its strategic location in the heart of the country provides quick access to large proportions of the population through strong transport networks. Historically it has had the highest levels of demand of all our regions and has become an increasingly attractive location for investment. This is one of the few regions where we expect rents to continue to grow at the same pace over the next 3 years as the last 3. Occupier requirements are high for space in the region and the new product delivered over the year will go some way to provide occupiers some quality accommodation.

2020 was another strong year for occupier activity in this region, with almost 5 million sq ft of lettings agreed by the likes of Clipper, XPO and Amazon. Unlike neighbouring regions, most of this activity was lettings of up-and-built stock rather than pre-lets. Similarly, the profile of development in the year was heavily weighted towards the construction of buildings with a tenant in tow. However, there are schemes such as Puma Park in Coventry, Peddimore in Birmingham, the former Pilkington site in King’s Norton, Prologis Park Ryton and Hilton Cross which have the capacity to accommodate the largest of occupier requirements. As such, the outlook for rents in the region is for an above average 2.4% per year over the next 3 years, stronger than the growth we have seen in the region during the last 3 years.