Each statistic contained within this blog has been sourced and curated by Shepherd Commercial through our internal data.

Key Statistics Of The Year

The UK is the second largest commercial real estate market in Europe behind Germany, at a value of 1.9 trillion US dollars.

88% of investors intended to sell more commercial real estate in 2025 than they did in 2024.

Northern UK office markets transacted 44% below their 5 year average in Q1 of 2025.

Rightmove investor demand surged 28% in Q1 2025 across all commercial sectors.

Office occupancy rates in the UK have reached a 5 year high of 37.2% – significantly lower than the pre-pandemic average of 63%.

The Data

Pulled from CBRE, JLL, CoStar and Shepherd Commercial, the data is easily misconstrued as dire graphs counteract overall improvement and really showcase a tale of two stories.

The sentiment is typically weighted favourable with 98% of respondents claiming to be on the hunt to acquire more commercial property in 2025 than 2024, and 44% viewing the UK commercial property market in a ‘up-turn’ phase.

This comes off the back of fresh data showcasing capital values across all commercial sectors nudging just 1.8% last year – highlighting how directionless the market truly is at the moment.

More Figures

Birmingham, UK has the lowest commercial property vacancy rate at just 5.7%

Business rate relief cut to 40% from 75% in April adding further strain to existing occupiers.

10% of Londons office market is now ‘flexible spaces’, up from 6% last year.

Retail is now outperforming all other asset classes with capital value returns of 8.9% compared to 5.1% in the wider market.

Our Surveyors

With a ‘boots-on-the-ground’ mentality, our surveyors like to give their outlook on the regions outlook and the wider perspective for commercial property.

Across our West Midlands surveyors, over 70% said they expect significant increases in transactional volumes in 2025 compared to 2024.

Only 30% thought yields would fall across the wider investment market, and 85% had a generalised optimism going forward.

As a leading commercial real estate consultancy in the West Midlands, with offices in Birmingham and Solihull, our surveyors have dedicated over 70 years of combined expertise to the profession, witnessing the paradigms and cycles of the commercial market through both economic downturns and upturns.