Commercial Property Market Review November 2025

Retail investment activity strengthens 

Recent data suggests that investment in the retail sector is showing strong signs of recovery.  

Rightmove tracks property enquiries made to commercial agents and found that investor demand in retail property rose by 30% annually in Q3. Meanwhile, supply of retail property decreased by 2% over this period. This builds on momentum from Q2, when investor interest increased by 35% year-on-year.  

In Q3, retail investor demand in the high street was up by 45% year-on-year. Although this is a slight dip from the 56% annual increase seen in Q2, it still indicates strong investor confidence.   

Andy Miles at Rightmove commented on the data, “There can be little doubt that reductions to the base rate are enabling investment in the retail sector. But that is only part of the story. Vendors are also increasingly realistic about the value of their retail properties and the occupational market is improving somewhat.” 

M&S pre-lets major new logistics hub  

A £74m new logistics hub is currently under construction for M&S near Bristol. 

The 390,000 sq. ft facility is being developed by Epta Development Corporation (EDC) in partnership with property developer Stoford, marking EDC’s first investment in the UK. 

The project has been forward-funded by real estate investor, LondonMetric Property and pre-let to M&S on a 20-year lease, reflecting the retailer’s long-term commitment to increasing its supply chain capacity. The new unit is expected to be completed by summer 2026.  

This news coincides with M&S opening a major new store in Cabot Circus, central Bristol, further marking the company’s growing presence in the West of England.  

Dan Gallagher, joint managing director at Stoford, commented, “The project demonstrates confidence in Avonmouth as one of the UK’s most important distribution locations and will provide LondonMetric and M&S with a facility that meets the highest standards of design and sustainability.” 

Office take-up in the Big 6 cities 

Savills estimates that office take-up across the Big 6 regional cities will reach approximately 3.85 million sq. ft by the end of 2025.  

Although this represents a 21% decline compared with the same period last year (£1.85bn), it remains broadly in line with the average levels for Q3 during 2020-2024. The Commercial Property Market Review | October 2025 provides further insights.

So far this year, retail is the sector that has attracted the highest volume of investment, totaling £452m. The industrial sector also performed strongly, recording its second-best third quarter since

the pandemic, with completed deals worth £153m. International investors are on track to have their highest share in investment since 2022, accounting for 45.9% of deals in the first three quarters of the year.

Alasdair Steele at Knight Frank observed, “Fewer deals are happening, but the assets that are trading hands tend to be higher quality buildings in prime locations. These assets are attracting a good deal of interest.”

The place of AI in commercial property

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being adopted across the commercial real estate sector in a variety of ways. It’s transforming how the industry operates.

The technology is increasingly being used to enhance efficiency and support decision-making. AI systems can analyze years of market data in just minutes. This helps underwriters to generate faster valuations and enables asset managers to assess the potential impact of interest rates and policy changes. This frees up professionals to focus on other tasks, such as client relationships and strategy planning.

AI is not just adopted by market analysts; it can also be used in the commercial properties themselves. For example, smart systems are helping to reduce energy use and improve comfort by automatically adjusting heating and cooling systems based on real-time data. CBRE explained, “By harnessing machine learning, building managers can now see weeks in advance when a system might fail, preventing tenant disruption and lowering costs.”

Read the full review here

All details are correct at the time of writing (22 October 2025)

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