The current supply of new industrial property stock in the West Midlands will run out next year, according to new research.

Latest figures for the region’s industrial property market show that at the current average annual take-up rate of 1.73m sq ft there is only enough stock to sustain the market for another one and a half years.

In the West Midlands, just 2.66 million sq ft of new, modern industrial units above 100,000 sq ft are available for occupation.

This is down from 3.14 million sq ft at the end of 2010.

In total, including secondhand modern and other secondhand units, there is 5.58 million sq ft available.

At the end of 2011 take-up of new industrial units totalled 2.92 million sq ft, almost identical to the 2010 total of 2.94 million sq ft and slightly below the annual average of 3.13 million sq ft.

Richard Meering, senior director in the industrial agency team at CBRE in Birmingham, said the shed market has held up well in what continues to be a challenging environment for the property sector.

However, he warned that a complete lack of available stock was now a very real prospect.