In the first quarter of 2025, London West End - Bond Street was the most expensive location for prime high street rents in the UK, with prices reaching 2,500 British pounds per square foot. The West End was ranked ahead of London City, which came in third. In Manchester, the annual costs of rental per square foot of prime retail real estate amounted to 235 British pounds. Retail warehouses Retail warehouses typically range from 50,000 to hundreds of thousands of square feet. They are used for keeping and distributing inventory. Retail warehouses include loading docks, truck doors and large parking lots; also, they may contain a limited amount of office space. Prime retail warehouse properties belong to the wider category of industrial property, along with other real estate types, such as distribution buildings, showroom facilities, manufacturing buildings, cold storage facilities, telecom or data hosting centers, "flex" buildings denoting more than one industrial or commercial facility housed in the same building, and finally R&D buildings. Prime yields of high street retail across Europe Retail real estate prime yields in Europe were the lowest in Zurich, Switzerland, and the highest in Bucharest, Romania in 2025. As could be expected, larger cities in Europe tended to produce lower yields, due to the lower risk associated with these markets. Locations with lower yields tend to have steady occupancy rates and rental growth.

The cost of rent for office space in London is the highest in Europe. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the West End had average rents per square foot of *** British pounds. The average annual rent in London for prime office space was substantially higher than in any other European market. Prime yields For commercial real estate investors, prime yields in London averaged **** percent in 2023. As compared to the rest of the United Kingdom, yields for prime office space in London were notably lower. Commercial investments Office real estate, which comes under the broader term of commercial real estate, traditionally accounts for the lion's share of commercial real estate investments. In recent years, however, this share has been gradually declining. Despite this trend, the UK is one of the leading office real estate investment markets in Europe.

The prime rent for large warehouses over 100,000 square feet in the UK was 11.82 British pounds per square foot in the first quarter of 2025. However, in London, the South East, and East, rents were twice higher, with London reaching 29 British pounds per square foot and the South East & East at 23.5 British pounds. Conversely, the North East was the region with the most affordable warehouse rent, with the prime rent per square foot amounting to 7.75 British pounds. What is the rental price for warehouses in Europe? The UK has some of the most expensive warehouse rents in Europe. Other key markets that fetched high prices were Oslo, Helsinki, Dublin, and Munich, with rents ranging between 100 and 200 euros per square meter. In Eastern Europe, prices were notably lower, with markets such as Katowice, Warsaw, and Bucharest, reporting rents below 60 euros per square meter. How are warehouse rents expected to develop in the next years? The industrial and logistics real estate sector has grown dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic. Although growth is forecast to slow, rents in the sector are expected to continue to increase until 2025. Industrial real estate is anticipated to outperform offices and retail not only by rental growth but also in terms of capital value increase.

London's prime high street retail location commanded the highest rents in Europe, with monthly rates reaching a staggering 2,786 euros per square meter in the second quarter of 2025. This figure dwarfs other major European cities, with Milan coming in second at 1,667 euros per square meter. The stark difference in rental prices highlights the premium placed on prime retail spaces in Europe's financial capital, reflecting the city's status as a global shopping destination. While London boasts the highest retail rents, the UK as a whole remains a significant player in retail real estate investment. In 2023, the UK attracted 6.6 billion euros in retail real estate investment, accounting for approximately a quarter of the total investment in the sector across Europe.

Median monthly rental prices for the private rental market in England by bedroom category, region and administrative area, calculated using data from the Valuation Office Agency and Office for National Statistics.

The United Kingdom (UK) is the most expensive European country for prime industrial rent. The monthly rent for industrial space in London Heathrow in the second quarter of 2025 cost **** euros per square meter. Switzerland, Norway, and Ireland, were the other European countries where the average annual cost of industrial prime rents in the capital city exceeded one ***euros per square meter.

London is the most expensive city for office real estate in Europe. In 2023, the per square foot cost of office space in London was higher than in any other European city. In West End, a Grade A office cost about 90 British pounds per square foot in 2023. Prime offices were even more expensive, at 135 British pounds per square meter. Office yields Prime yields in Central London fluctuate depending on the district, but West End areas tend to have lower yields compared to other areas, such as Stratford or Canary Wharf. The prime office yield in Mayfair/St. James' in 2023 was the lowest among the major London office submarkets. In real estate, yields measure the potential return of a rental property and are calculated as the ratio of the property's rental income to the investment cost. Typically, prime office yields in London are lower than the rest of the UK, which is mostly due to the highly competitive market and high investment costs. Vacancy rates Despite the high office rental costs in England’s capital city, vacancy rates in many of London's main office markets were below seven percent in 2023. This is good news for the office sector, as during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the share of vacant office space across all Central London districts spiked dramatically. Compared to other European cities, London was in the middle of the ranking, alongside Frankfurt and Lisbon.

In 2024, London had the highest construction costs for manufacturing facilities and warehouses among the cities of the United Kingdom included in this list. Building an advanced industrial plant in Manchester cost ***** British pounds per square meter. The figures in Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester were somewhat similar. Certain areas of London, such as Park Royal, Canning Town, and Acton, had some of the highest rent of new small warehouse units in the UK in 2022. What factors determine construction costs? The cost of labor in construction in the UK amounted to nearly ********** of the overall income in that sector. Apart from the salaries of employees and workers, the price of land and machinery are also quite important. Another element that can be subject to a lot of change is the price of building materials, with the price of concrete re-inforcing bars in the UK growing by nearly ** percent in 2022. However, construction projects also face other costs, such as fees and other administrative costs. Industrial land prices Some components that affect the final cost of constructing warehouses and manufacturing facilities can vary a lot within the same country. For example, salaries tend to be higher in large cities. Along the same lines, the price of industrial land in North London was well over *** times higher than in Edinburgh in 2022. However, these disparities are not as pronounced in every country. Although certain areas of Warsaw had very high prices, industrial and warehouse land prices in other Polish cities such as Poznan, Wroclaw, or Krakow were higher than in the zone III of Warsaw.

London and Munich were among the most expensive cities in Europe for the construction of warehouses in 2024, while advanced manufacturing facilities were the most expensive in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, among the selected cities, Paris had the lowest construction costs for warehouses. However, construction costs do not always follow the same trends as commercial real estate in Europe, with sale prices differing significantly in some cases. Warehouse take-up in Europe These high construction costs in the largest cities probably affect the take-up of large warehouses European cities. Instead, Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK) came in first in 2023, with roughly ******* square meters of warehouse space spread throughout the municipality. Of the first ten entries, two were located in the UK, which makes it one of the most popular warehouse locations. Retail warehouse rental prices London was the UK region with the highest bix-box warehouse rent prices. As of the last quarter of 2023, roughly **** British pounds were paid per square foot. This was more than twice the amount paid for the same type of buildings in the West Midlands. London was also the European city with the highest rent for warehouses, with Oslo and Helsinki following far behind.