Key points
- Take-up of units over 100,000 sq ft reached 6.7m sq ft in Q3 2026 and 21.8m sq ft year to date.
- Retail, e-commerce and fulfilment firms accounted for 78% of take-up, and the Midlands for 63%.
- Speculative completions in Q3 were under 500,000 sq ft, the lowest quarterly figure in almost 10 years.
- Average rents rose 4.3% year on year in August, and prime big-box rents 2.7%.
The latest figures come from Colliers’ industrial and logistics team. Year-to-date take-up is slightly ahead of the pre-pandemic 10-year average, and Colliers expects around 30 million sq ft for the full year. About 15 million sq ft is currently under offer.
E-commerce and the Midlands lead
Retail, e-commerce and fulfilment businesses accounted for 78% of take-up so far this year. The Midlands, the heart of the UK’s “Golden Triangle” of logistics locations, accounted for 63% of space transacted.
Chinese occupiers remain an important source of demand. In the first half of the year, Colliers reported that Chinese e-commerce brands accounted for 13% of big-box take-up, up from around 6% in 2025. In the same period, 3PLs took 40% of space, and retailers and pure online players another 40%.
The third quarter also marks a recovery. In the first half of 2026, take-up reached almost 15 million sq ft, 20% below the same period of 2025. With 6.7 million sq ft added in Q3, the market is now back above its long-term average. We reported in August that UK logistics space was rebounding as global e-commerce expanded.
The lowest new supply since 2018
The bigger change is on the supply side. Speculative completions in Q3 were under 500,000 sq ft, the lowest quarterly delivery in almost a decade.
Over the past 12 months:
- newly built available space fell by 10.3%,
- second-hand availability rose by 20%,
- new Grade A space fell to 36% of available stock, from 43% a year earlier.
Only 7.3 million sq ft of speculative space is expected to complete in 2026. That is 45% below the five-year average and the lowest annual figure since 2018. Overall vacancy has risen modestly again.
“Demand remains healthy,” said Deirdre O’Reilly, head of industrial research UK at Colliers, adding that the share of new and modern space available is falling.
Rents keep rising
Average rents rose 4.3% year on year in August, and prime big-box rents 2.7% in the year to September. In July, Colliers put the average prime headline rent for distribution warehouses over 100,000 sq ft at £12.40 per sq ft.
At the same time, landlords are offering more incentives on leases. The average rent-free period rose from 14.8 months last year to 15.8 months in 2026.
Len Rosso, co-head of industrial and logistics at Colliers, said the availability of new, high-quality space is becoming “more and more limited”, which is likely to support rental growth in the coming year.
What it means for logistics companies
For 3PLs and transport companies planning to expand, the message is clear: modern warehouses in the best locations will be harder to find and more expensive. Companies may need to accept older buildings, look outside the Midlands, or sign earlier, before space is let.
There is also a link to transport costs. Warehouses in the Golden Triangle are popular because they shorten journeys to most of the UK population. If firms are pushed to less central sites, longer delivery routes could add to fuel and driver costs.
Consolidation in the sector is also changing the market. Prologis recently agreed a £14bn takeover of Segro, one of the UK’s largest owners of logistics property.
