Levels of grade A stock reached 26.8 million sq ft, accounting for 45% of all available space.

Total availability rose by 11% and now stands at 59.2 million sq ft. The largest increase in availability (30%) was registered in the Midlands reflecting the construction of several large speculative units across the East Midlands.

Cushman & Wakefield’s research also revealed that take-up slowed during the first quarter of the year to 6.5 million sq ft across 42 deals following a strong end to 2018.

Amazon and other E-commerce occupiers continued to dominate the leasing market accounting for a third of total take-up. The largest deals of the quarter were both by Amazon – a 730,000 sq ft pre-let at iPort Doncaster and 575,000 sq ft at Gazeley’s Altitude in Milton Keynes, the largest speculatively-built unit previously available on the market.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, enquiries tracked by Cushman & Wakefield for units over 50,000 sq ft rose to their highest quarterly level since 2016, reaching 266, suggesting that subject to a positive resolution of the current Brexit impasse, momentum will pick up towards the end of the year.