Fewer new warehouses were built in the first half of 2009 than in any similar period in the previous decade, the United Kingdom Warehouse Association (UKWA) was told last week.
Hauliers and logistics companies were warned that although there is now a glut of warehouse space available, the situation could quickly change in any upturn.
Sally Bruer, head of industrial research at property specialist Gerald Eve, who was one of the speakers at the UKWA Warehousing Futures conference in Nottingham, says that now might be a good time for those needing space to buy or rent it cheaply.
Bruer adds that the market is flooded with vacant warehouse space, but that the majority of it is second-hand, with the amount of new or refurbished space dwindling all the time.
She says: "If operators want a good deal on new space, now could be the time negotiate it. As the new space is consumed, more and more of what is left will be second-hand."
A potential future shortage of warehouse space is likely to be worsened because rate relief on empty industrial property was scrapped last year.
Roger Williams, chief executive for the UKWA, says this has "led many landlords to demolish perfectly sound warehouse property as a way of avoiding paying the substantial amounts of tax that unoccupied facilities now incur".