A developer specialising in last-mile logistics units is to ramp up its UK operation, and plans to expand even further.
Warehouse REIT, the AIM-listed company that invests in and manages urban and ‘last-mile’ industrial warehouse assets in strategic locations in the UK, has added to its 27 original sites with a series of acquisitions valued at £186 million.
The business says that they are able to buy standing properties for prices below the replacement value of rebuilding the property, suggesting that demand from competitor-buyers is low.
“The Company continues to see…. the potential to secure robust and growing income streams. Occupational take-up remains resilient with the Company continuing to experience demand for vacant space,” Warehouse REIT said.
With only limited resources available to complete acquisitions, the Warehouse REIT is contemplating an equity fundraising to capitalise on this pipeline of near term opportunities.
Occupier demand for urban warehouse space is increasing as the structural growth in e-commerce has driven the rise in internet shopping and investment by retailers in the "last mile" delivery sector. The urban warehouse sector offers one of the highest initial yields of all UK property sectors.
