A geography of the UK commercial property market

This paper revisits some ideas that were first raised seriously in the mid-90s; that it should be possible to establish linkages (in spatial terms) between local economic factors and sector performance in commercial real estate markets. There have been a number of developments in the quality and quantity of relevant data over the intervening period that make it appropriate to return to have another look at some of these ideas in a more ‘modern’ technological context. Using data from several sources this exploratory paper seeks therefore to look at some of the spatial patterns that can be derived from the data. It examines the extent to which it is possible to make linkages and visualise the geographical structure of those markets and their change over time. Naturally there remain strong limitations on the extent to which it is possible to achieve ‘good’ results in this kind of analysis, and one major intention of the paper is to encourage a debate about how data sets can be developed and improved to allow these methods to be taken further.