Landlords and some tenants on retail warehouse parks have had a slightly less painful lockdown than in other parts of the retail market. That’s reflected in rent and service charge collection data. Retail warehouse tenants in the South West paid 44% of rent due and 40% of service charges due on the June quarter day. By contrast, shopping centre tenants paid just 23% of the rent due and 6% of service charges due in June.

Rent collection is rising across the retail sector but retail warehouse parks continue to outperform. On the September quarter day, rent payments on South West retail warehouse parks rose to 65% and 69% for service charge due. Shopping centres collected just 61% of their rent and 57% of services charges on the same date.

As the first lockdown ended, the UK retail sector’s next question was what part of the market would recover to normal levels fastest?

Footfall on retail parks recovered soonest, and as of the start of October was only 11.8% down year-on-year. The combination of large units and adjacent car parking makes socially distanced shopping easier on retail warehouses parks than in other types of retail location. As lockdown measures ease, we’d expect to see retail warehouses lead the footfall recovery again.

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