Reading: Property survey shows town well positioned to weather Brexit uncertainty

The latest UK real estate market outlook published by M&G Real Estate, one of the UK‘s largest property investors, shows that Reading’s office sector is well positioned to weather uncertainty arising from Brexit negotiations once the UK triggers Article 50.

The study reveals that the market appears more resilient given Grade-A availability is very low and there is limited new supply of high-quality, modern office accommodation coming online in the short-term – with office take-up being driven by domestic demand which has proven surprisingly buoyant.

M&G Real Estate believes the relative merits of the market – demographics (population, size and growth), connectivity, quality of workforce, global university rankings, innovation – factors which will shape the local urban economy and influence occupier demand, will not materially change in the wake of Brexit.

M&G Real Estate reports that Reading, along with Birmingham and Manchester, is moving ahead of the rest – helped by strong and improving transport infrastructure including Crossrail, a young educated workforces and government support.

Aaron Pope, director, asset management at M&G Real Estate, said: “Reading’s office market appears to be in a much better position than we were expecting last year and we now look to the future from a position of relative strength. However, it is clear that there are definite and significant headwinds in place that may affect the market over the next two years.”

M&G Real Estate’s Reading office portfolio includes The Forbury Place Estate, comprising 600,000 sq ft of prime Grade A office space across three buildings – with the final piece, Number 2, now coming out of the ground.