By Liza Helps, Property Editor, Logistics Matters

HALF YEARLY research from the likes of property analyst CoStar and research departments at property companies such as Savills, Avison Young and Colliers indicate a marked uptick in take-up from ecommerce companies  such as Amazon and 3Pls  with contracts for Amazon as well as a increase in take up from Chinese-linked ecommerce companies and ecommerce logistics providers.

Colliers Co-Head of Industrial & Logistics Len Rosso, said: “E-commerce has been the backbone of the industrial market so far in 2026, with demand from 3PLs, retailers and pure online players providing the resilience during a continuously challenging macro-economic environment. Chinese ecommerce giants have continued to expand their presence in the UK this year. So far this year, this tenant group has more than doubled their proportion of take up compared to last year.”

According to Colliers, ecommerce has driven the market with 40% of take up by 3PLs, and another 40% from retailers and pure online combined. In addition, Chinese ecommerce brands have accounted for 13% of the overall big box take up this year – up from c.6% during 2025.

CoStar senior director of market analytics Grant Lonsdale, noted “Chinese e-commerce platforms continue expanding their UK logistics footprints to support faster delivery times and larger domestic inventories.”

Indeed, CoStar research pointed to the fact that Chinese occupier take-up is on course for another record year, with more than 2 million ft2 leased or under offer by mid-2026.

It also reported that Amazon has taken an estimated 6 million ft2 over the past 18 months, including its 2 million ft2 Segro Park Northampton facility, which opened last month and its 900,000 ft2 Symmetry Park Kettering site is scheduled to open this autumn.

The top three largest deals of the year saw 3PLs Belckmann and  ID Logistics take 761,361 ft2 of space at Magna Park 761 in Lutterworth and 673,270 ft2 at Rugby 673 respectively to fulfil contracts with Amazon while the third largest deal saw Chinese real estate firm Mit-Log secure 550,000 ft2  at Dove Valley Park for  Chinese ecommerce  clients.

It is important to note that according to CoStar industrial net absorption turned positive in the second quarter of 2026, reaching nearly 6 million ft2 – its strongest reading in more than three years.

In effect more space was taken up than released to the market.

Check out an in depth view of the UK warehouse property market in the latest  Big Shed report from Logistics Matters…