Light industrial finance in the East Midlands

The East Midlands rises to 636 metres at Kinder Scout in the Peak District and was established as a Government Office region in 1994. We arrange the full range of light industrial finance across the East Midlands, from the commercial mortgages that buy and hold a unit or an estate to the bridging, development, mezzanine and equity behind a refurbishment, a trade park scheme or a yard. Industrial market data is published nationally and regionally by Gerald Eve (Newmark), MSCI and Savills, so the figures above are presented as clearly-labelled benchmarks, with the regional figures attributed to their sources, while the planning and housing-transaction data is genuinely local for the towns we track.

Prime multi-let rents sit at £13.00 per sq ft across Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and Northampton, and the regional all-grades average of £8.09 actually runs ahead of the West Midlands (Gerald Eve, Q3 2024). Trade counters take 26.9 percent of occupied space, the highest share in England, and the big-shed cluster around East Midlands Airport feeds a long tail of small-unit servicing and sub-contractor demand. The region had a quarter of its 948,000 sq ft pipeline under construction at end-2024, more than most regions manage. At a 5.25 percent prime equivalent yield the pricing matches the North West, and entry lot sizes suit first-time estate buyers. We arrange acquisition and refurbishment finance across the three cities and the A45 corridor, where owner-occupiers and SME investors compete for the same stock.

Nationally, forecast multi-let rental growth runs at 4.6% (Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let Winter bulletin 2024, 2024 to 2028 forecast), against an expected peak void rate of 9.8% (Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let Winter bulletin 2024, 2024 expected peak) and MSCI industrial vacancy of 9.4% (MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index, Q4 2025 results, Dec 2025). That tight supply picture for small units is the backdrop to every regional appraisal we run.

Development activity is visible across the region: we track 12 recent industrial planning applications in the East Midlands through council planning registers, part of a national feed covering more than 100 local authorities.

Benchmark figures from Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let Winter bulletin 2024; MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index, Q4 2025 results. Regional commentary draws on Gerald Eve (a Newmark company) (Multi-Let, Winter bulletin, 2024).