#MIPIM UK development growth accelerated in February to 14.2% - Savills

Commercial development in the UK grew for the 30th month in a row in February, according to latest research published by Savills.

The property services company’s monthly analysis of development activity recorded an accelerating trend, with total activity increasing by 14.2% compared to 10.5% in January.

Private commercial projects led the way, with a 22.6% increase in net balance, compared to a much more modest 1.3% in the public sector. Growth was recorded in eight out of nine sub-sectors, with only public retail and leisure development showing a marginal decrease.

UK commercial developers were optimistic that the strong market conditions will continue, though investor confidence weakened slightly. The index figure measuring positive against negative expectations fell from +24.8% in January to +19.1% in February.

Private office activity increased in February by 9.9%, slightly below January’s figure of 10.2%, while public office projects grew by 4.1% following a slight contraction the previous month.

Commercial retail and leisure activity slowed, growing by 6.4% compared to 10% in January, while the public sector recorded a marginal decline.

The pace of industrial and warehouse activity increased sharply to a seven-month high of 28.6%. Among the three UK regions, London recorded its strongest growth rate in more than six months at 23.5%, up from 8% in January. In doing so it overtook the strongly performing Rest of the UK, which grew by 22.3% (17.8% in January), though the South-East outperformed both with a rate of 25.7% (14.3% in January).

Investment Locations
For more on the top cities in Europe, see PropertyEU's new Investment Locations website