| Retail investor demand continues rising sharply, supported by reduced interest rates, tighter supply and greater vendor realism in valuations | M&S strengthens its UK logistics network with a major pre-let hub in Avonmouth, backed by significant long-term investment. | Office take-up in Big 6 cities remains broadly aligned with five-year averages, with standout growth in Bristol and major Manchester deals |
M&S pre-lets major new logistics hub
A £74m new logistics hub is currently under construction for M&S near Bristol.
The 390,000 sq. ft facility is being developed by Epta Development Corporation (EDC) in partnership with property developer Stoford, marking EDC’s first investment in the UK.
The project has been forward-funded by real estate investor, LondonMetric Property and pre-let to M&S on a 20-year lease, reflecting the retailer’s long-term commitment to increasing its supply chain capacity. The new unit is expected to be completed by summer 2026.
This news coincides with M&S opening a major new store in Cabot Circus, central Bristol, further marking the company’s growing presence in the West of England.
Dan Gallagher, joint managing director at Stoford, commented, “The project demonstrates confidence in Avonmouth as one of the UK’s most important distribution locations and will provide LondonMetric and M&S with a facility that meets the highest standards of design and sustainability.”
Office take-up in the Big 6 cities
Savills estimates that office take-up across the Big 6 regional cities will reach approximately 3.85 million sq. ft by the end of 2025.
The Big 6 regional cities are Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester. Take-up in these areas reached 948,771 sq. ft between July and September, which is 6% lower than the five-year average for Q3. However, cumulative take-up for the first three quarters is in line with the five-year average, at 2.68 million sq. ft.
Bristol has shown particularly strong growth with take-up of 227,767 sq. ft in Q3, representing a 164% year-on-year increase. This surge was driven by Hargreaves Lansdown securing a 90,362 sq. ft deal. Meanwhile, Manchester saw the largest single deal of the year to date, with Autotrader signing a 130,000 sq. ft lease.
Professional services and the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sector dominated demand across the regions, accounting for 19% of total take-up.
Retail investment activity strengthens
Recent data suggests that investment in the retail sector is showing strong signs of recovery.
Rightmove tracks property enquiries made to commercial agents and found that investor demand in retail property rose by 30% annually in Q3. Meanwhile, supply of retail property decreased by 2% over this period. This builds on momentum from Q2, when investor interest increased by 35% year-on-year.
In Q3, retail investor demand in the high street was up by 45% year-on-year. Although this is a slight dip from the 56% annual increase seen in Q2, it still indicates strong investor confidence.
Andy Miles at Rightmove commented on the data, “There can be little doubt that reductions to the base rate are enabling investment in the retail sector. But that is only part of the story. Vendors are also increasingly realistic about the value of their retail properties and the occupational market is improving somewhat.”
Five-year forecast from Savills
Savills has released its latest mainstream residential forecast, outlining what to expect from the housing market over the next five years.
According to the report, house price growth is expected to be relatively slow over the next year, with projected increases of 1.0% in 2025 and 2.0% in 2026. This subdued pace is due to ongoing market challenges, including high levels of supply and muted buyer demand. However, Savills anticipates that conditions will improve in subsequent years if interest rates go down as expected and the UK economy stabilises. Transaction volumes are also expected to recover, returning close to pre-pandemic levels as affordability gradually improves.
Annual growth is forecast to accelerate sharply after 2026, peaking in 2028 and 2029 at rates of 5.0% and 5.5% respectively. Over the full five-year period, prices are expected to grow by a total of 22.2%, which is equivalent to an average increase of almost £80,000.
Positivity in the UK housing market
Recent reports suggest that the UK housing market could be on the slow road to recovery.
The latest data from Nationwide shows that there was modest house price growth in October, with an annual rise of 2.4%. This is slightly up from September, when prices rose by 2.2% annually.
Recent figures from the Bank of England support this optimism. In September, net borrowing increased by £1.2bn to £5.5bn, the highest monthly rise since March this year. Net mortgage lending increased by 3.2% year-on-year, the fastest rate of annual growth since January 2023. Also, net mortgage approvals rose to 65,900, a promising sign for future borrowing.
Robert Gardner at Nationwide commented, “Looking forward, housing affordability is likely to improve modestly if income growth continues to outpace house price growth as we expect. Borrowing costs are also likely to moderate a little further if Bank Rate is lowered again in the coming quarters.”
Property transactions on the rise
Latest figures for UK property transactions in September, released by HMRC, show an improvement in the number of UK residential property transactions.
The seasonally adjusted figure for September 2025 stands at 95,980 sales, representing a 4% annual increase and a 1% monthly rise. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, there were 102,420 transactions recorded, which is 8% higher than September 2024 and 2% lower than August 2025. These figures indicate that activity in the housing market is steadily recovering after the slowdown seen in April, following the Stamp Duty reforms.
President of OnTheMarket, Jason Tebb, commented on the findings, “The uptick in seasonally adjusted transaction numbers indicates that the market continues to move in the right direction. The market remains remarkably resilient despite wider economic and political concerns.” He added, “Pre-Budget speculation over tax changes is creating some uncertainty, although many are proceeding with transactions regardless.”
House prices headline statistics
- Average house prices in the UK increased by 2.6% in the year to September 2025
- House prices decreased by 0.6% on average between August and September 2025
- The average house price in London was £556,454.
House prices – Prices change by region
Source: The Land Registry
Release date:19/11/25
Next data release: 17/12/25
All details are correct at the time of writing (19 November 2025)
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