Women DIY fans boost warehouses

RISING numbers of women DIY enthusiasts coupled with Britain's latest obsession with home-improvement TV programmes are behind the continuing boom in retail warehousing as a property investment.

The sector, one of the few bright spots in a generally grim commercial property market, has benefited from the British consumer's willingness to spend on so-called white goods such as refrigerators and cookers.

This spending pattern has fuelled a prime rental growth in retail warehousing of 9.4% a year over the past 10 years.

The signs are that growth will continue notwithstanding any slowdown in spending on durables, according to property agent Lambert Smith Hampton's June retail warehouse report.

Consumer spending on durables has grown by 8% a year over the past seven years, driven by among other factors, 'the growing number of DIY television shows and a greater interest in DIY among women,' the report says.

An average annual growth rate of 5% in durables spending, in line with a 20-year average, should drive a 7.8% increase in retail park rental growth rate, according to the LSH report.

Even on a pessimistic 2% increase in spending, the rental growth rate would be halved but still positive.