As the UK commercial property market continues to evolve, understanding the latest trends and challenges is crucial for business leaders seeking to make informed decisions in 2025. Having access to commercial property solicitors is also critical for guiding businesses through legal challenges, ensuring compliance, and protecting their interests in an ever-changing market.
To better understand the current state of the commercial property market and UK business leaders' stances, we leveraged AI-driven audience profiling to synthesise insights from opinions expressed online to a high statistical confidence level. Our audience comprised 618,149 leaders, covering a full year ending on February 17, 2025, and highlighting interesting insights in the sector.
Index
- 94.9% of organisations lease their main commercial premises
- 77% of business leaders occupy investment properties
- 83.6% say cost of rent is most important when choosing commercial premises
- 53% of UK business leaders call on real estate agents to navigate the commercial property market
- Remote trends the biggest challenge for 58.9% of business leaders in the UK commercial property market
- 85.6% expect rental costs per sq. ft to increase in the next year
- 34.2% plan to invest in solar panels as sustainability upgrades
- 32.4% of our audience’s organisations were based primarily in Leeds
- 34.1% organisations focus primarily on energy
- 29.3% of business leaders in the UK are 65 years of age or older
- 50.4% of our audience of UK business leaders is male
- About the Data
Does Your Organisation Currently Own Or Lease Its Main Commercial Premises?
94.9% of organisations lease their main commercial premises
The graph below indicates the statistical split between commercial premises leasing and ownership amongst our audience:
The overwhelming majority of our audience of business leaders in the UK do not own their main commercial premises. 94.9% said their organisations lease their main premises, while 5.1% said their organisations own their premises.
A recent report found that the average office lease length in the UK increased by 27% from 2.9 years in 2023 to 3.7 years in 2024. This indicates a move toward greater stability and a desire on the part of organisations to offer consistent workspaces to employees who have a hybrid work arrangement.
What Types Of Commercial Property Do You Currently Occupy?
77% of business leaders occupy investment properties
Our audience occupies a wide variety of commercial property types. Here’s what occupation numbers look like:
Our audience occupies a range of commercial property types. However, it’s clear that investment properties are by far the most popular, at 77%. Industrial warehouses come in 64.6% behind, at 12.4%, and office space at just 6.6%. Thereafter, the number plummets, with mixed-use developments preferred by 1.2%, followed by land for development and logistics centres at 0.8% each, showrooms at 0.5%, retail units and flexible office solutions at 0.3% each, and co-working spaces at 0.2%.
Given the diverse range of property types comprising the UK commercial property real estate market, it’s not surprising the market is estimated to reach $156.12 billion in 2025 and grow at a CAGR of 4.31% to $192.79 billion by 2030.
According to a recent report, economic pressures and evolving workplace dynamics are transforming the market in various ways. For example, a three-day workweek is becoming the new standard, while office occupancy levels have stabilised at approximately 30%.
Which Factors Are Most Important When Choosing The Location Of Your Commercial Premises?
83.6% say cost of rent is most important when choosing commercial premises
The cost of rent, infrastructure, and tax incentives are among the most important factors when choosing commercial premises location. Our data reveals what our audience looks for:
For a resounding 83.6% of our audience, the cost of rent was the most important factor when choosing the location of their commercial premises, while 13.8% named infrastructure as most important. 1.3% said that tax incentives were the top factor, followed by transportation links (0.6%) and market competition and proximity to customers (0.3% each).
The importance of rental costs as a factor for the majority of our audience when choosing the location of their commercial premises isn’t surprising when you consider average rental costs in the UK. According to an Alan Boswell Group rental forecast, the average rental cost of commercial property in England and Wales was £94 per square foot. This is expected to increase to £112 per square foot by 2034. The group also revealed that, with an average rental cost of £183 per square foot, offices were the most expensive type of commercial real estate to lease in 2024.
Which Advisors Do You Call On To Navigate The Commercial Property Market?
53% of UK business leaders call on real estate agents to navigate the commercial property market
UK business leaders call on various advisors for assistance with navigating the commercial property market. Our graph shows who these advisors are:
Slightly more than half (53%) of our audience said they turn to real estate agents for assistance navigating the commercial property market, while 19.5% said they call on market analysts and 12.7% on property consultants.
With a vast proportion of our audience turning to real estate agents, analysts, and consultancies for advice, this industry still has a valuable role to play. According to IBISWorld, the UK commercial real estate consultancy market size is expected to reach £1 billion in 2025 and there were 1,945 businesses in this sector in 2024.
That said, it’s important to note that, overall, the industry's market size declined at a CAGR of 3% between 2019 and 2024. This decline may help explain why a portion of our audience turned to other sources for advice on navigating the commercial property market. 6.6% called on financial advisors, 2.9% on tax advisors, and 1.9% on legal advisors. Just 1.6% speak to commercial brokers, while 1% turn to property management firms, followed by investment advisors (0.6%) and surveyors (0.2%).
What Do You See As The Biggest Challenges In The UK Commercial Property Market?
Remote trends the biggest challenge for 58.9% of business leaders in the UK commercial property market
As is evident from the statistics below, business leaders identified several challenges in the UK’s commercial property market:
For 58.9% of our audience, remote working trends are the biggest challenge in the commercial property market. However, more prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic threw the world into upheaval in 2020, remote working trends have shifted slightly in favour of hybrid working models in which employees split their work hours between home and the office.
This hybrid pattern leads to an increased demand for commercial property, which in turn affects valuations. Unsurprisingly, property valuation fluctuations (15%) are currently the second biggest market challenge. Supply chain issues (12%) and economic uncertainty (6.3%) also garnered some engagement, but just 1.1% of our audience named tenant retention a major challenge, while 1% said that regulatory changes were challenging.
How Do You Expect Your Rental Costs Per Sq. Ft To Change In The Next 12 Months?
85.6% expect rental costs per sq. ft to increase in the next year
Although the majority expect an increase, not all UK business leaders expect their rental costs to increase in the next year. Some are looking forward to a decrease or costs remaining the same:
While the vast majority (85.6%) of our audience expect their rental costs per sq. ft. to increase in the next year, 7.5% said they expect costs to decrease, and 6.9% said they expect rental costs to stay the same.
For most business leaders whose organisations rent their main commercial premises, rental prices will likely increase in the next year. According to Savills, this will be the case, particularly in retail properties such as shopping centres, retail warehouse parks, and high street parades. The company also predicted that office space will be in high demand in 2025, leading to a hardening of rental yields. Rather than being limited to prime spaces, the demand for office space will be strong across the spectrum, provided those office spaces are in good locations.
What Sustainability Upgrades Are You Investing In For Your Commercial Properties?
34.2% plan to invest in solar panels as sustainability upgrades
Sustainability upgrades have become increasingly popular, and these are the ones UK business leaders are planning to invest in for their commercial properties:
Our audience’s responses indicate that business leaders in the UK plan to invest in a range of sustainability upgrades for their commercial properties. At 34.2%, solar panels are the most popular, which correlates with them being among the UK's most common sustainability upgrades and retrofits. According to Solar Advice, 90% of the British public supports solar panel adoption. There were 1,468,652 solar panel installations across the UK by February 2024, with most installations being residential rather than commercial.
Our audience also prioritised renewable energy (30.1%) and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations (25.1%). However, waste reduction (5.5%), green roofs (3.7%), water conservation (0.8%), and sustainable materials (0.6%) garnered minimal engagement.
The higher engagement with renewable energy and EV charging stations likely reflects their immediate relevance, market demand, practical benefits, and the current focus on cutting-edge technologies. In contrast, topics like waste reduction and sustainable materials may appear less impactful or more long-term.
Where In The UK is Your Organisation Primarily Based?
32.4% of our audience’s organisations were based primarily in Leeds
Our data revealed where in the UK the business leaders in our audience primarily operate from:
Of our audience, 32.4% said their organisation was based primarily in Leeds, followed by the 22.8% who said they were based in Birmingham and 19.8% in Manchester. Backing up Leeds as a frontrunner was a Frank Knight report revealed in 2024 that Leeds saw its strongest annual performance in commercial real estate since 2019. In Q4 last year, take-up reached 157,706 sq. ft, reflecting a 40% year-on-year increase. The most active occupier group was the professional services sector, which accounted for 32% of all space leased and 27% of completed deals.
In contrast, Newcastle (7.5%), Glasgow (6.5%), Sheffield (5.7%), and Liverpool (4.6%) had minimal engagement, while London and Cardiff, despite being business centres, both had just 0.3%. However, this may be due to the high cost of property in these areas, with London being particularly expensive.
Which Industry Best Describes Your Organisation’s Primary Focus?
34.1% of organisations focus primarily on energy
Our audience represents a variety of industries, as you can see from the graph below:
Thanks to increasing demand and diversification, energy is big business in the UK. According to Ofgem, there were 21 active suppliers in the domestic gas and electricity retail markets in September 2024. Interestingly, 34.1% of our audience focuses primarily on energy, followed by 16.2% on transportation and 15.6% on healthcare.
11.2% said their organisation focuses on retail, 5.2% on finance, and 5.1% on hospitality. 5% said their organisation’s focus is on technology, followed by manufacturing (2.8%), education (2.7%), and construction (2.1%).
These statistics reflect the growing importance of energy as a business sector in the UK, driven by increasing demand, diversification, and sustainability trends, while other industries like transportation, healthcare, and retail remain significant but with relatively smaller shares of focus.
Demographics
We took a closer look at the data to gain a better understanding of our audience of 618,149 business leaders in the UK, focusing on their age and gender.
Age
29.3% of business leaders in the UK are 65 years of age or older
Almost 30% of our audience was aged 65 or older. Find out how various age groups engaged in the graph below:
At 29.3%, business leaders aged 65 or older were the most engaged, followed by those aged 55 to 64 (23.5%) and 45 to 54 (19.8%). Thereafter, the only time the age group did not descend in declining order was with 25-34-year-olds, who had 6.7% engagement, which was less than those under 25 (8.6%).
These engagement levels reflect trends that emerged in the UK over the last few years. An Enterprise Nation report found that the number of self-employed people aged 60 or older climbed to a record 991,432 in 2023. Drawing on Enterprise Nation data, King’s College London reported that the average age of business founders in the UK was 46, while 35% of businesses were started and run by people over 50.
Gender
50.4% of our audience of UK business leaders is male
Our data revealed that the gender distribution of our audience was almost equal:
Our audience of business leaders in the UK was almost equally represented by men and women. 50.6% of our audience identified as male, while 49.4% said they are female.
This almost equal split between men and women is in keeping with recent findings published in the FTSE Women Leaders Review report for 2025. According to the report, women occupy 43% of roles on company boards and 35% of leadership roles at the 350 FTSE companies in the UK.
Based on our data, the commercial property market in the UK continues to thrive despite facing challenges such as hybrid or remote working models. Some voices in the media may have declared the death of the traditional office a few years ago, but as is clearly evident, this model is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
About the Data
Sourced from an independent sample of 618,149 business leaders in the UK expressed opinions across X, Quora, Reddit, TikTok and Threads. Responses are collected within a 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error.
