Savvy investors cash in as industrial occupiers change tactics

Investors have begun snaring some quality industrial properties, as rentals begin to climb following a reasonably static past five years.

As you can see from the table, this increase in activity has been reflected in the dominance of developers bringing new stock onto the market.

Plus, you'll notice that private investors have emerged as the major category of buyers for industrial property.

The current wave of development is catering for a much larger office component, relative to what is normally provided by industrial developers. So much so, it is now often as high as 40% of the overall building area.

This trend is being driven by occupiers wanting to combine their administration building, in top-quality accommodation, with their distribution facility, rather than leasing an outer-lying warehouse, and having their head office in a more traditional office location.

The bottom line is: many of the larger developments are occurring by way of a fully-integrated business park environment, catering for small- to medium-sized businesses.

 And this is providing investors with the opportunity to acquire affordable industrial properties, surrounded by all the amenities needed by those tenants who occupy them.

Chris Lang is a commercial property investor and gives keynote speeches and regular seminars on the best way to invest in commercial property. He maintains a blog, his-best.biz, which he updates regularly about the best way to get the most out of your commercial property investment.