High street rents fall for fourth consecutive quarter
Independent traders are returning to town centres priced out a decade ago — but the recovery is uneven.
Average high street rents have fallen for a fourth consecutive quarter, according to data published this week, with the steepest drops recorded in mid-sized market towns across the Midlands and the North.
Independents are taking advantage. A new generation of bakeries, record shops, repair cafés and cookware specialists is opening into units that, only five years ago, were tied up in long leases with national chains.
Landlords describe the trend with mixed feelings. Yields are lower; occupancy is higher. For pension funds with large retail portfolios, the maths is finally beginning to work again, even if the headline rents make uncomfortable reading.
The recovery is uneven. Edge-of-town retail parks continue to outperform town centres; places without a transport anchor remain in structural decline; and the very largest cities, where rents never collapsed in the first place, are seeing only marginal movement.
Industry bodies have urged the government to redirect business rates relief toward independents in the recovering tier of towns, arguing that a small, well-targeted intervention now could lock in a generation of renewed footfall.
