In 2024, ****** was still the most expensive UK city for office construction. This was true at least for the cities included in the list, and it applies to prestige and A-Grade offices. Both A-Grade and prestige offices in London were more expensive than any type of office construction in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, or Leeds. After London, Cambridge and Oxford are also some of the other UK cities with the highest house prices in 2023. Office rents in London Not only did London prove to have high building costs, rents for prime offices were equally high, with the West End core as the most expensive districts in the city. The area to the North of Buckingham Palace is known for its exclusive townhouses largely owned by the foreign elite and upscale hotels and restaurants. Stratford and the rest of the Docklands were the cheapest districts in London. Office investments in the UK In the last quarter of 2023, the value of office investments in London increased slightly in comparison to previous quarters. Investments in the City and Southbank, however, dropped in value. The volume of investment in commercial real estate in the UK fluctuated a lot in the past months, with some years showing high volumes of investment in office real estate, and other months where those values fell rapidly.

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.

As of 2025, Zurich, Geneva, and London had some of the highest construction costs in Europe, with a price of ***** and ******U.S. dollars per square meter, respectively. Dublin was the third city at ***** U.S. dollars per square meter, closely followed by Munich and Dublin. When it comes to the construction cost of education buildings in the UK, Glasgow was more expensive than London. However, this is an exception, as generally, London is the most expensive city to build in the UK.

Renting an office space in the UK was the most expensive in London West End in 2025. In the first quarter of the year, the square foot cost of a prime office space cost 170 British pounds. Conversely, Belfast was the most affordable of the 18 markets ranked, at 26 British pounds per square foot.

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.

In 2024, the average cost of building a new rental house in the Netherlands reached *** euros per cubic meter. Building owner-occupied property was slightly cheaper to construct, with an average cost of *** euros per cubic meter. The source mentions that the numbers concern an average on granted building permits for newly to be constructed homes with a total construction cost of more than 50,000 euros (excluding taxes over the last 12 months). Permits which combine living areas with holiday homes and/or offices were not counted. Note that no numbers were provided on renovation. What is the market size of the construction industry in the Netherlands? As of 2022, the Netherlands had over ******* active construction companies. These companies were either active in the construction of buildings or development of building projects, civil engineering or were involved in specialized construction activities. One of the more internationally well-known Dutch construction firms is BAM, which is also active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany with project deliveries in Denmark, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The revenue of the Royal BAM Group reached a value of *** billion euros in 2023. How much do you pay for a house in the Netherlands? Utrecht was one of the provinces in the Netherlands with the highest price for a single-family house. It is also important to look at the different prices in Dutch cities, as they can vary significantly. Residential property in Amsterdam, cities surrounding the Dutch capital (such as Haarlem) or Utrecht sold for much higher prices than a house in, for example, Rotterdam.

This Statistic shows the average cost of grade A and grade B office rents in Scotland (United Kingdom) per square foot in 2019. The most expensive area to rent Grade A office space in Scotland was seen in the capital, Edinburgh, with an average of ** British pounds per square foot. Even Grade B property in Edinburgh was more expensive on average that prime real estate in Glasgow's out of town area.

This Statistic shows the average cost of grade A and grade B office rents in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) per square foot in 2019. The most expensive area to rent Grade A office space in Northern Ireland was seen in the capital, Belfast, with an average of ** British pounds per square foot. This is almost * euros higher than the cost per square foot for grade A office property rent in Derry.

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.

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.

In the South of England, rents for office space fluctuate depending on its location. This was especially present for areas surrounding London. For companies looking for more affordable rents, some choose to rent Grade B office properties. For specific areas of Southern England, Grade B rents are often more than *** British pounds per square foot cheaper than Grade A properties. In 2019, the cost of grade B office property was the most expensive in Bristol, in the South West of England at ** British pounds per square foot. The cheapest average office rents in the South of England could be found in Norwich and Peterborough.

Compared to London, even the most expensive office rents for Grade A and B real estate were far less than the top of London. In 2019, the most expensive office rents were found in the West End of London.

This Statistic shows the average cost of grade A and grade B office rents in the two largest cities in Wales (United Kingdom) per square foot in 2019. The most expensive area to rent Grade A office space in Wales was Cardiff, with an average of ** British pounds per square foot. Even Grade B property was more expensive on average that prime real estate in Swansea.

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.

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.

France was the country with the highest number of construction starts of homes in 2024, followed by Poland, Germany, and Spain. There were also ******* housing construction projects starting in the UK and ******* projects completed that year. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina had less than ***** construction completions, and Hungary had ****** home completions in 2024. A hiccup in residential construction in Poland Not only was Poland among the countries with the most homes built on overall terms, but, along with Ireland, it also had the most housing completions per capita in Europe. That was despite the number of housing units completed in Poland declining significantly in 2023 and 2024. Nevertheless, the trend in residential construction had been very positive in the previous years, rising from under ******* in 2014 to slightly under ******* in 2022.

France’s capital region had the busiest residential construction segment France had one of the largest construction sectors in Europe.Although the construction starts of residential and commercial buildings in France decreased in 2024, they still covered **** million square meters. Most of that corresponded to housing. However, that activity was unevenly distributed across the country. The revenue of the building construction and renovation industry in Île-de-France was nearly twice higher than that of the second region in the ranking.

In 2024, land for the development of industrial real estate in some of the most sought after markets in the UK exceeded *********** British pounds. In the fourth quarter of the year, the land value in London ranged between **** million British pounds in East London and **** million British pounds in West London. The Golden Logistics Triangle, referring to the area between Nottingham, Birmingham, and Northampton, had a per acre land value of over *********** British pounds.