London West End - Bond Street is the most expensive location for prime high street rents in the UK, with prices reaching 2,250 British pounds per square foot. The West End was ranked ahead of the London City, which came in third. In Manchester, the annual costs of rental per square foot of prime retail real estate amounted to 225 British pounds. Retail warehouses Retail warehouses typically range from fifty thousand 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 Istanbul, Turkey in 2022. 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.

London's prime high street retail locations commanded the highest rents in Europe, with monthly rates reaching a staggering 2,173 euros per square meter in 2023. This figure dwarfs other major European cities, with Paris coming in second at 1,167 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.

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 150 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 four 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 British pounds per square foot in 2023. However, in London, the South East, and East, rents were twice higher. 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.

The industrial real estate sector is forecasted to see the highest annualized rental growth in the UK between 2024 and 2028, followed by West End offices. According to the forecast, industrial real estate rents are expected to grow by 3.2 percent per year in this period, while West End office space rents are expected to increase by 2.7 percent. When it comes to total commercial real estate returns in the UK, the industrial and retail warehousing sectors are forecast to outperform all other property types.

In 2018, the United States had the highest square footage of retail space per capita worldwide at 23.5 square feet per person. Canada and Australia followed behind with 16.8 and 11.2 square feet, respectively.

The price of prime office space in London differs significantly based on location. More central areas, including the West End, Marylebone and Knightsbridge, tend to have prime rents more than double the cost of areas on the outskirts. London office rents - most expensive in Europe When placing London alongside other major cities in Europe, the West End area of London had annual prime rents over 800 euros per year higher than Paris. In the United Kingdom (UK), average rental costs in the capital fair outweigh those of other areas. Outside of London, the major cities saw prime office rents ranging between 26 British pounds per square foot and 39 British pounds per square foot. Prime Yields Prime yields assess the return on investment expected for commercial real estate. In 2023, prime yields ifor office real estate stood between 3.75 and 7.5 percent. During the same year, office prime yields in several other areas in Europe saw far greater returns on investment.

Prime locations for shopping centers include main streets and city centers of European cities, and factors such as the main flow of customers, the amount of space to handle the sales volume expected, as well as the direct competition and neighbors all have a great impact on projected sales. Specifically, space requirements must be carefully tailored to usage requirements, as rent typically proves to be high.

Rental prices of prime shopping centers real estate in Europe

According to the data presented, the most expensive retail space in shopping centers was rented out in Frankfurt, where on average prices were 280 euros per square meter per month as of June 2021. In comparison, the most expensive cities for high street retail were London and Paris, where monthly prime rents were close to 2,000 euros per square meter.

Coronavirus and commercial real estate

Among the many impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) are the drop in foot traffic and sales at high street shops and shopping centers due to the lockdown and social distancing measures, but also the increase of e-commerce. Shopping out of the convenience of your own home increases the focus on the importance of logistical warehousing real estate.

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.

Across the major European industrial and logistics real estate markets, London had the highest rental rate in 2024. One square meter in a large, prime warehouse in London cost about 323 euros annually in the fourth quarter of the year. That figure reflects the rental cost after any rent-free periods or incentives, excluding taxes and charges, referred to as headline rent. Other markets with high rental rates were Helsinki and Oslo. What are the most important logistics hubs in Europe? London’s domestic and international connectivity, thriving business ecosystem, and access to a large consumer base make it one of the most important logistics hubs in Europe. Nevertheless, Birmingham achieved the highest take-up among the major European markets for three years in a row. Birmingham is part of the UK’s golden logistics triangle – an area between Birmingham, Northamptonshire, and Yorkshire that, due to its central location, is within a four-hour drive from 90 percent of the British population. Unsurprisingly, Europe’s three largest economies (the UK, Germany, and France) had the most active logistics investment markets. Combined, the three countries accounted for more than half of the total investment value in the sector. How profitable is warehouse investment in Europe? One of the key metrics for measuring the profitability of an investment is yield, or the rental income generated by the property as a percentage of its price. In Europe, yields for prime properties reached up to eight percent, but some markets, such as France and Germany, experienced much lower yields. Though low yields can be interpreted as low profitability, they are usually a sign of strong market fundamentals and sentiment. In conditions of economic growth and steady occupier demand, investors can expect rental and capital growth and are more willing to accept lower yields. On the other hand, when the macroeconomic conditions deteriorate, economic growth slows down, and borrowing costs increase, investors address the higher risk through higher yields.

In the second quarter of 2021, the monthly rent for office space in Beijing amounted to almost 400 yuan per square meter. It was the highest rent among all cities in mainland China. There is a large disparity between real estate in tier-1 cities and the rest of China. Not only is rent significantly lower, but in some lower-tier cities, the vacancy rate is higher.

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 913,000 square meters of warehouse space spread throughout the municipality. Of the first ten entries, two werelocated 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 28.5 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.

The vacancy rate of industrial and logistic real estate in the United Kingdom (UK) rose in 2024, doubling since the market dip in 2021. In 2024, about 6.5 percent of warehouses over 50,000 square feet were vacant, up from 3.2 percent in 2021. Big shed warehouses, or units over 100,000 square feet, experienced slightly higher vacancies, but the vacancy rate ranged between two and eight percent depending on the region.

Rental price statistics historical data time series (indices and annual percentage change). These are official statistics in development.

London leads the ranking of the most expensive region to build a parking garage in. Like two years previous, in 2018 London was still consecutively the most expensive area to build in. This was also true for other public building constructions in the UK and seems unsurprising given the city’s standing as a commercial and financial hub.

Below ground construction most expensive
As seen in this statistic, costs per square meter of internal area have increased in all areas across the UK, with the only exception being the UK North where it had become cheaper to build multistory car parks above ground. It was generally more expensive to do construction below ground than above. Limited space in English urban conurbations has seen residents more likely to park their car on streets than in garages.

London most expensive in Europe
The UK capital was continually ranked as the most expensive European city to build in. This was true not only for multi-unit high rise constructs, but also office facilities specifically. In both instances only New York proved to be more costly.