Average projected turnover up by 10% for new leases

The report, compiled by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, also found the average rent on 269 new leases was £30,086 a year, up from £29,253 in the previous quarter.

Average rent has now been on the rise for the past three quarters, and while this may seem worrying for new licensees, the average projected turnover for the first two years of a new lease spiked to £375,930 in Q1 this year, up by almost £35,000 from the previous quarter.

The rent as a percentage of turnover was at 7.9%, again an encouraging drop for licensees, down from 8.4% in the previous quarter.

Rent as a percentage of turnover had consistently increased throughout 2015, with the new figures reversing the trend.

The average lease length had remained steady at six years in the first three quarters of 2015 until it rose to seven years in Q4. But this year’s survey found it dipped back down to six years in Q1 this year.

Dry share on new lease is at 23% on average, with the south east as low as 15%, while the south west and Wales were at 31% and 30% respectively.

Almost half (46%) of new leases now have a part tie, with 54% fully tied.

London had by far the highest projected turnover, at £518,317 for the first two years, with the south west the lowest at £302,663.

But London was the hardest hit in rent as a percentage of turnover, at 11.2%, whereas licensees with new leases in East Anglia have to shell out as little as an average of 6.1% of rent on turnover.