Nichols Crowder has launched their market report 2016/17 which reviews the hundreds of transactions carried out over the year to determine trends. Businesses, whether leasing or buying, are occupying smaller, more affordable premises. The average size of a premise transacted in 2016/17 was 9.8% smaller than the previous year. The most notable sector was industrial where 66% of the sales were for warehouses of less than 250sqm. Matt Nichols, Director of Nichols Crowder said “One of the big contributors to this shift is outsourcing. Outsourcing trends including services such as accounting functions, IT, and even warehouse logistics. The flip side is these outsourcing firms are also in the main small businesses who are also buyers of these smaller premises”.
Michael Crowder, Director of Nichols Crowder suggests “The underlying number one issue for business owners is staffing issues, compliance and cost, making outsourcing a no fuss alternative. This pressure on the workforce will be further compounded as the digital age bites, requiring different skill sets and therefore workers to be retrained. This is creating some very dynamic changes and that impacts the building designs we put into the market.” Nichols Crowder believes councils need to be aware of these trends, as councils seem to resist the smaller designs as they believe the warehouses are used purely for storage and not as employment generators. These statistics clearly show the growth in the economy is clearly resting on the back of small business.