A three-year high for industrial real estate meant November was the first month since October 2018 in which CBRE’s all-property index showed anything other than negative capital growth.

Capital values across UK industrial real estate rose by 1.8% during November, CBRE said – the highest monthly gain since December 2017. Together with a 0.8% decrease in retail and a 0.4% decrease in offices, the all-property index was flat.  

Rental values fell by 0.2%. Retail rental values declined by 0.5%, offices by 0.2% – dragged down by a 0.6% fall in City offices – and industrials rose by 0.3%. Total returns were 0.5%.

Toby Radcliffe, research analyst at CBRE, said: “Despite a second national lockdown in place throughout November, commercial property values did not report falls anything like the magnitude reported in March. 

“While the retail and office sectors continued to see values decrease, November was notable for the fact that capital values did not fall at the all-property level. This was largely due to strong industrial sector performance, which pulled up the overall average. By the end of 2020, industrials now look as though they may even surpass the capital growth reported by the sector in 2019.”