The path out of lockdown will be more complicated corporately, legislatively, economically and personally than the path into lockdown. Key issues that will affect the occupational and investment markets over the next 12 months are:

• The shape of the economic recovery and inevitable rise in unemployment will affect saving and spending across the economy. We believe that retail offers that minimise the need to rely on public transport, and that offer a lot of space for shoppers to feel safe in will recovery most strongly over the summer and early autumn, but this recovery will be tempered the macro-economic questions that are typical to any recessionary period.

• Retailer profitability and stability will be challenged by these recessionary factors, and some retailer failures are inevitable. This will cause some investors to question the depth of tenant demand for retail warehousing compared to other parts of retail, a question that has been common in this sector through every crisis since its inception. We remain of the view that value and food retail will be comparative winners through this period and while they may not be net acquirers of space in 2020, their footprints are likely to remain stable at least. More questions exist around discretionary areas of the sector such as electrical and bulky goods, and some further rationalisation of store portfolios in these sectors is inevitable.

• Given that the pricing of prime retail warehouse assets was increasingly being seen as attractive at the start of this year, we expect that this view will be sustained and will lead to more opportunistic investor interest towards the end of 2020.

_{Read the articles within Spotlight: UK Retail Warehousing below.}