The industry's own research.
18 items
HOUSE prices in Scotland have continued to marginally rise, according to the balance of respondents to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Residential Market Survey. A net balance of 5% of respondents in Scotland report that prices rose in the July survey, which is the lowest this balance has…
OVERALL construction activity in Scotland was ‘relatively stagnant’ in the second quarter of 2026, according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Construction Monitor, despite a rise in infrastructure activity. A net balance of -2% of survey respondents reported a fall in construction…
NEW research has revealed that demand for key construction materials needed to build new homes weakened further during the first half of 2026. The latest sales data from the Mineral Products Association (MPA) – based on actual volumes from members – shows that sales of ready-mixed concrete, aggregates and mortar…
LARGE-scale regeneration schemes risk creating a sense of ‘cultural displacement’ among older residents, a University of Manchester report has warned. The report’s authors said that regeneration must do more than build new homes and infrastructure, with investment also needed in community centres, faith spaces,…
INVESTMENT of between £7.8 and 14.2 billion may be needed in Scotland over the next 15 years to adapt to the impacts of climate change, new research has warned. Published by ClimateXChange and led by the University of Strathclyde, the study provides the first comprehensive investment needs across five key sectors –…
THE Construction Products Association’s forecast for sector output has been downgraded in its summer forecast, due to the lagged impacts of the Middle East conflict that are starting to pass through to both the demand and cost sides of the UK economy. UK construction output year-to-date so far in 2026 has already…
Knight Frank's Q4 2025 quarterly review analyzes investment trends, student demand, and supply delivery in the UK purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) market, finding that investors committed £4.3 billion to PBSA in 2025 (up 10% year-on-year) across 79 deals, with increasing investor appetite for first-generation standing stock and portfolio-level transactions despite pricing misalignments and weaker leasing cycles. Demand-side analysis shows undergraduate acceptances for 2025/26 rose 2.3% year-on-year to 577,725 students with Russell Group institutions significantly outperforming, while PBSA delivery reached 19,600 beds across 64 schemes in 2025 with an additional 50,250 beds under construction, concentrated in London, Bristol, Glasgow, Coventry, and Manchester.
JLL's Big Six Residential Development Report for Summer 2025 analyzes residential development trends across six UK cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, and Manchester), finding average annual price growth of 1.7% and rental growth of 2.1% across these markets, with Birmingham leading in both metrics and over 14,500 BTR units in its pipeline. Key findings include a 64% increase in BTR investment in H1 2025 versus the five-year H1 average, normalization of rental growth from 4.2% in December 2024 to 2.1% currently, removal of Scotland's temporary rent cap legislation on 1 April 2025, and development viability challenges from building safety regulations and planning restrictions impacting new home completions despite strong underlying demand for urban housing.
Prime office rents across the UK's 15 key regional office markets rose by an average of 8.2% in 2025, with the Big Six markets (Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, and Manchester) experiencing stronger growth of 10.2%, driven by limited supply of high-quality space and strong occupier demand. Investment activity remained subdued at £938 million through Q3 2025, level with the prior year, though sentiment improved and sentiment indicators point to recovery expected in 2026 supported by high-profile asset disposals and improved financing conditions.
Glasgow's office market recorded 433,781 sq ft of total take-up in 2025 across 137 transactions, the highest annual total on record, with Grade A and Prime take-up reaching 229,087 sq ft (53% of total) and 31% higher than 2024 levels. Prime headline rent remained at £41.50 per sq ft in Q4 2025, having grown 28% over five years, with Savills projecting growth to at least £45 per sq ft by end of 2026 and £50 per sq ft by 2030, while overall availability decreased to 2.1 million sq ft with a 14.1% vacancy rate.
This is a market report published by Colliers on December 31, 2025, providing a snapshot of the property market in Glasgow, Scotland as of November 2025. The report covers capital markets activity in the Glasgow geography.
Glasgow's office market experienced record take-up of 439,367 square feet in 2024 across 126 transactions, driven primarily by the legal sector which accounted for 41% of professional sector activity, while the market faces acute supply constraints with only 0.8 years of prime office stock available and prime rents exceeding £40 per square foot. The document identifies emerging growth sectors including health tech, fintech, and creative industries alongside traditional strengths in engineering and professional services, with approximately 874 fast-growth private companies and £267 million in venture capital raised over recent years positioned to drive future office demand.
Glasgow's office market achieved Q1 2026 take-up of 139,900 sq.ft., driven by major deals from Shawbrook, Tesco, and Centrica, with prime rents holding at £41.50 per sq.ft. despite supply constraints and no space currently under construction, though rent uplifts are anticipated for the remainder of the year.
Knight Frank's 2025 Scotland Report provides a cross-sector review of the Scottish commercial real estate market covering offices, manufacturing, and retail, finding that while leasing activity shows resilience particularly in major centers with concentrated demand for high-quality assets, legacy stock faces obsolescence risk and secondary properties struggle to attract investment unless significantly repriced. The report details that Edinburgh office take-up grew 62% in 2024 underpinned by a major HBOS lease of 282,000 square feet, Glasgow take-up rose 37%, and prime rents have increased notably with Edinburgh experiencing 30% growth since March 2020, though new development pipelines remain constrained with only 38,361 square feet of new space available in Edinburgh.
Total retail investment volumes in 2025 are forecast to reach £5.83 billion, down 17% on 2024 and 8% below the 10-year average, with underperformance driven primarily by a shortage of large-scale shopping centre availability in the first half and significant retail warehousing slowdown in the second half. All retail sub-sectors showed strong occupational performance in 2025 with declining vacancy rates (down to 13.5% nationally, the lowest since COVID), rental growth projected at 3.2% (the strongest since 2006), and shopping centres and foodstores emerging as top-performing asset classes alongside retail warehousing, with the sector forecast to deliver total returns of 9.5% in 2026.
Knight Frank's Q3 2025 quarterly review reports that investors committed over £3 billion to the UK Build to Rent market in the first nine months of 2025, with more than £850 million invested in Q3 alone, representing a 35% year-on-year increase across multifamily housing, single-family homes, and co-living sectors. The document notes that UK BTR completed stock surpassed 153,367 homes as of Q3 2025 (up 25% compared to Q3 2024), with an additional 54,354 homes under construction expected to bring the sector to over 200,000 operational homes within the next few years, though challenges including construction viability, planning delays, and Gateway approval processes are expected to result in falling completions in coming years.
Knight Frank's Q3 2025 UK Cities Office Market Review analyzes leasing, supply, investment, and rental trends across ten regional UK office markets including Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield. Key findings include leasing activity reaching 2.5 million square feet in the first half of 2025 with year-on-year growth, seven of ten cities recording rental increases as high as 20%, limited new and Grade A space availability at a 3.0% vacancy rate, investment volumes of £373.5 million in H1, and stable prime asset pricing at 6.50%.
Knight Frank's H1 2025 Office Market Mid Year Review examines leasing, supply, investment, and rental trends across ten UK regional cities including Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield. The report finds that regional leasing activity reached 2.5 million square feet in the first half of 2025 (7% above H1 2024), seven of ten cities recorded year-on-year rental growth reaching as high as 20%, but investment volumes were subdued at £373.5 million and new grade A office space availability remained critically tight at 3.0% vacancy, creating intense competition for quality space.