Re-Leased, the cloud-based commercial property management platform, has published data collected from six days into Scotland’s recent quarter date, revealing the country is trending 31% down in comparison to its past two quarters.
The data reveals that nearly a week following the Scottish rent deadline on the 28th May, just 40% of commercial rents were paid, compared to an average of 58% for the same period in the past two quarters.
Re-Leased’s analysis is based on live rental collection data from over 35,000 commercial leases on its platform in the UK, and includes office, industrial and retail assets.
Re-Leased’s CEO Tom Wallace said “The early indicator Scottish data may provide a direction of travel for the property sector in advance of the upcoming England quarter date. As we look ahead to 24 June, it’s important to remember that unlike last quarter, businesses across the country have felt the full force of lockdown measures during the past three months. Many organisations would have been operating as normal for the majority of the first quarter of the year and will have benefitted from some cash reserves to cover overheads. Now they will be facing the true realities of the crisis.”
Re-Leased’s report for the UK’s March quarter revealed that 67% of commercial rent had been paid 60 days after the deadline. This compared to a figure of 84% for the December 2019 quarter.
Wallace continued: “Behind the overall UK picture, there are significant variations in rent collection across retail, industrial and commercial. Whilst some sectors proved more resilient than others in the last quarter, many will now be facing serious financial pressures as a result of the past few months. The fact that Scotland is showing to be trending down at one third of its normal levels one week into its second quarter reveals that the rest of the UK may be set for an equally challenging period.”