IN Brief:
- Savills recorded 4.14 million sq ft across 83 prime midbox transactions to September 2026.
- The sample covers 20,000–100,000 sq ft industrial buildings built since 2010 in eight markets.
- Prime supply fell 4% year on year nationally, despite a 6% quarter-on-quarter increase.
Savills has recorded 4.14 million sq ft of take-up in the UK’s prime midbox industrial property market during the first nine months of 2026, across 83 transactions. Activity was 2% below the equivalent period last year, according to the property adviser’s latest assessment, while the amount of modern space available to occupiers fell on an annual basis. The figures describe a specific segment of the warehouse market rather than every industrial building in the country.
The prime midbox sample comprises industrial units between 20,000 and 100,000 sq ft, constructed since 2010, in eight regional markets tracked by Savills. Building age is used as an indicator of modern specification, not a guarantee of automation readiness or energy performance. The figures therefore exclude older industrial property, smaller urban accommodation and the much larger buildings used for some national distribution operations. A regional parts depot requiring 40,000 sq ft is being assessed within a different market from a 500,000 sq ft fulfilment centre.
In the first nine months, activity reached 4.14 million sq ft, only 2% below the comparable period in 2025. Approximately one million sq ft was under offer at the assessment date, but those negotiations have not all become completed transactions. Savills considers a full-year result close to 2025’s 5.51 million sq ft possible if sufficient deals proceed. The forecast depends on completions in the fourth quarter rather than any assumption that the space already under offer has been occupied.
The national averages conceal a sharp divide between local markets. London and Manchester had both surpassed their respective full-year 2025 take-up totals by September. Across the eight markets, available prime midbox space stood 4% below its level a year earlier, while rising 6% from the preceding quarter. These measures describe different time comparisons. Five regional markets recorded annual falls in available stock, even as some locations saw space return to the market during the latest quarter.
Leeds illustrates the constraints on occupier choice. Modern space available at the end of September totalled 422,000 sq ft across eight units, a fall of 39% year on year, although availability had increased 57% since the second quarter. Three buildings, with a combined 169,000 sq ft, were under offer. Savills recorded only one speculative unit of around 40,000 sq ft under construction and prime quoting rent of £11 per sq ft. That figure is a quoted rent, not the settled price of all recent lettings.
Manchester presents a different mix of demand and supply. Savills recorded 707,000 sq ft of midbox take-up in 13 transactions, up 44% on the same period of 2025. Wholesale occupiers accounted for half of the year’s transacted floorspace in that market, with third-party logistics providers representing another 36%. Manchester had 868,000 sq ft available across 17 units at the quarter end. The relationship between the space being sought and the size bands actually available can be more important to a prospective occupier than the regional headline availability figure.
The buildings serve manufacturing stores, spare-parts operations, wholesale distribution and outsourced logistics, often combining receipt, storage, order assembly and dispatch under one roof. Whether a unit can support those flows depends on clear height, structural loading, dock and yard geometry, column spacing, electrical capacity and permitted use. A warehouse advertised at 50,000 sq ft does not necessarily have the racking positions or vehicle access needed for a particular throughput, especially where full pallets and smaller replenishment orders share the same building.
Greater reliance on electric handling equipment and automated storage can change the building assessment before a lease is signed. A prospective tenant may need adequate power, suitable floors, fire protection arrangements, access for servicing and sufficient space to stage goods while equipment is maintained. Savills did not examine automation readiness for every property in the sample, so the post-2010 construction criterion cannot be treated as confirmation that the stock supports those systems without modification.
Inventory geography is another constraint. Placing stock near production sites or regional customers can reduce some delivery journeys and improve response times, but dividing the same range across more locations can increase aggregate inventory and transfers between sites. Consolidation offers the opposite trade-off: fewer stockholding points with potentially longer distribution routes. Operators assessing a midbox site need a credible view of shipment profiles and replenishment patterns alongside the property market data; take-up figures alone cannot resolve their network design.
The next quarter will establish how much of the one million sq ft under offer becomes completed take-up and whether additional modern units reach the market. Savills’ national measure of 1.58 years of available supply also masks local differences, including Leeds at 1.03 years. A company with a strict geographic requirement may consequently face a limited choice even when the national totals suggest broadly stable demand. New lettings and speculative completions will determine whether those regional imbalances ease during the remainder of 2026.
