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Take-up has grown by 10% year-on-year, reinforcing sustained occupier demand in a core location
The market continues to demonstrate notable resilience, underpinned by strong occupier demand, low availability and continued rental growth. Take‑up levels remain above long‑term averages, while a limited development pipeline is sustaining competitive conditions and highlights the region’s enduring appeal as a core logistics location.
Christian Smith, Director, Industrial Birmingham
Savills is instructed on Catalyst Park, Birmingham, by Aviva Investors – a new scheme of four mid-box units ranging from 22,543 sq ft to 64,380 sq ft, totalling 175,086 sq ft.
Take-up
For prime mid-box units in the West Midlands, transactional activity in Q1 2026 totalled 437,000 sq ft across eight transactions, up 10% year-on-year and 42% above the pre-pandemic average of 306,000 sq ft. Across the size bands, units between 20,000–40,000 sq ft accounted for 6% of take-up, 40,000–60,000 sq ft accounted for 43%, 60,000–80,000 sq ft accounted for 32%, and 80,000–100,000 sq ft accounted for 19%.
Occupier Sector Take-up
There is a diverse range of occupiers taking space, with manufacturing-related occupiers accounting for 54%. This is followed by wholesale occupiers accounting for 24%. The remainder comes from third-party logistics (3PLs), accounting for 22%.
Supply
The current availability stands at 1.49 million sq ft across 31 units. This has increased by 2% quarter-on-quarter but is down by 4% year-on-year. The majority of available space is for units between 40,000–60,000 sq ft.
By size band for units between 20,000–40,000 sq ft, available supply totals 270,000 sq ft, followed by units between 40,000–60,000 sq ft at 761,000 sq ft, 60,000–80,000 sq ft at 380,000 sq ft and 80,000–100,000 sq ft at 81,000 sq ft.
Speculative Pipeline
There is 600,000 sq ft currently under construction across 13 units. There is 257,000 sq ft between 20,000–40,000 sq ft, 88,000 sq ft between 40,000–60,000 sq ft, 72,000 sq ft between 60,000–80,000 sq ft and 182,000 sq ft between 80,000–100,000 sq ft.
In Q1 2026, there were 160,000 sq ft of speculative announcements but no speculative completions. However, 108,000 sq ft is expected to be completed in Q2 2026.
Years of Supply
Across the West Midlands, there is 0.90 years of supply based on the three-year average annual take-up. By size band, there are 0.44 years of supply in the 20,000–40,000 sq ft range, 1.27 years of supply in the 40,000–60,000 sq ft range, 1.09 years in the 60,000–80,000 sq ft range and 0.90 years of supply in the 80,000–100,000 sq ft range.
Quoting Rents
The prime quoting rent for the West Midlands has increased by 4% to now stand at £14.00 psf.
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