Commercial occupier market keeps it alive mid-2025

The hang-ups of and, indeed, the hangovers of 2024 have fed ongoing national and international political issues of 2025 in the year’s first six months. Speaking plainly, the conductors of 2025’s geopolitics are not doing the business world any favours.

The to-ing and fro-ing on trade deals and the tariff ‘to-be-or-not-to-be’ fluctuating situations are, to put it diplomatically, very unhelpful to those of us in commerce in any of its forms - setting aside their impact on us as private individuals and domestic consumers.

Now, whether a seasonal phenomenon due to the late Easter and the quick succession of bank holidays in April and May, a drop in enquiry levels in the second quarter of the year has been signalling a slowing down in market activity.

However, the Government’s much trumpeted, and trailed, significant twin policy package announcements of the Strategic Defence Review and the Spending Review, coming in the first fortnight of June, might bring a welcome economic fillip.

The former, in particular, for those with high value defence sector interests - something our Lincoln office is eagerly anticipating given that county’s historic legacy and, latterly, renewed offer to the strategic defence industries.

At least the bond markets weren’t spooked at the Chancellor’s Spending Review on 11 June, in particular. For that, those of us in this business in the early autumn of 2022, are relieved and very, very thankful.

However, the weakness of the projected UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figure is still a factor in the decision-making process for businesses in the here and now in 2025.

In saying that, the commercial occupier market across the region – and in considering the national context too - has been surprisingly robust in the first part of the year.

Falling bank interest base rates make property a more attractive proposition and the commercial investment market has still been witnessing plenty of interest from cash buyers who are seeking to realised returns on their cash investments in fairly short order.

In looking at the figures for the eight Eddisons agency offices in the East & East Midlands region - a geographical map sweep from Leicester to Bury St Edmunds - in approaching the mid-point of 2025, the number of sales and lettings deals undertaken is 15 per cent ahead of where we were in the 2024 equivalent period. This, in itself, at this point of last year, was 10 per cent above the same point in 2023.

The industrial market remains the star performer which, as a sector in all its manifestations, retains a strong profile in our patch as it has done for the past 8-10 years and on which we have commented numerous times.

So far this year, the industrial sector has seen what could be described as ‘frantic bidding’ from owner occupiers when it comes to any vacant industrial space. Equally, there is continued strong demand from investors for any tenanted product available across the industrial sector too. Obviously, any new-build stock commands premium attention from both owner occupiers and investor landlords, alike.

In looking to the remainder of the year, we operate in a time of ‘known unknowns’, to coin the phrase, and that gives us a certainty in knowing that we have to earn every instruction we get and every deal we complete. It was ever thus in agency.