Retail parks had been enjoying the benefits of strong growth in employment, wages, disposable incomes and residential construction activity prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since last March, the sector solidified its position as the best performing and most resilient retail asset class, with surges in retail sales and strong footfall recorded despite rolling lockdowns and sharp declines elsewhere. The continued resilience of the sector is supported by the fact that 9 of the 13 retail parks in our analysis are fully occupied (no change since 2019) with just 5 vacant retail warehousing units across the sample. With high demand, low vacancy and a very limited development pipeline, we expect to see continued growth in rents and capital values in this sector.
