Ryden Reports Scottish Industrial Market Still Very Active
01 April 2009
Ryden is finding life in the Scottish industrial market despite the ongoing economic downturn. Since the beginning of 2009 Ryden has secured 18 separate lettings in and around Edinburgh for a variety of clients. The majority of the deals are at the smaller end of the market for units of less than 5,000 sq ft and include nine units at Peffermill Parc and four at Macmerry Industrial Estate.
In Glasgow the trend of strong demand at the smaller end of the market is replicated although demand for the larger units above 40,000 sq ft also continues. Ryden has concluded 11 transactions covering both sales and lettings in 2009 and has a further 11 units totalling a staggering 444,000 sq ft under offer.
In Aberdeen the market has been buoyed by the North Sea Oil & Gas industry and a relatively constrained supply of industrial stock. In the first 3 months of 2009 Ryden concluded 12 transactions covering 106,917 sq ft equivalent to a 57% increase on the same period last year. At Kirkhill Industrial Estate a substantial industrial facility totalling 37,659 sq ft was sold to Dunnottar Estates for £2.25million and within the same estate, Unit 2, Howe Moss Drive totalling 10,996 sq ft was let for a 10 year term to Turner Diesel.
These recent figures show Ryden continues to buck the trend. In 2008, while the market slowed, Ryden completed 191 industrial deals totalling 2.1 million sq ft, close to the level of deals done when the market was more stable in 2007. The firm was also named top industrial agent in Scotland by CoStar when market research showed Ryden completed 18% of the total number of industrial transactions, equivalent to 17% of all floorspace taken in 2008.
Commenting on recent activity, David Fraser, Partner in the Edinburgh Industrial Agency team said ''We have been very encouraged by the number of companies still making the commitment to take new space. We believe this recent successis, in part, down to our continued hard work to secure tenants for our clients in a challenging market. The small to medium sized market continues to defy the wider economic downturn and we hope this continues. Surprisingly, we have completed a larger number of deals in the first quarter of this year than last.”
