Commercial Units for Sale in Edinburgh
21 properties found within 15 miles
About Commercial Units in Edinburgh
Edinburgh is Scotland's capital and the second largest financial centre in the United Kingdom after London, and its office market is shaped by that. The traditional core is the New Town, where George Street, Charlotte Square and St Andrew Square hold the fund managers, law firms and private banks, and where the city's prime rent was set at 23 Charlotte Square. West of Lothian Road, the Exchange District, a masterplanned quarter built from the 1990s, houses Scottish Widows, Standard Life and Baillie Gifford, and it has grown westwards into Haymarket Edinburgh, 380,000 sq ft of Grade A offices beside Haymarket station that were fully let two years before completion.
Offices to let in Edinburgh extend well beyond the New Town. South of the Old Town, Quartermile on the former Royal Infirmary site provides 370,000 sq ft of offices, with Skyscanner and the University of Edinburgh's Futures Institute among the occupiers. Out west, Edinburgh Park at South Gyle and NatWest Group's headquarters at Gogarburn sit between the City Bypass and the airport, served by tram and by Edinburgh Park station, and offer the largest floorplates and the easiest parking in the city.
Beyond the offices, the city has a clear industrial and retail geography. The main industrial clusters are in the west around Newbridge and Sighthill, in the east at Fort Kinnaird and Newcraighall, and on the waterfront at Leith and Granton, with smaller pockets of workshops and storage along Gorgie Road and Easter Road. Retail runs from Princes Street and St James Quarter, the 1.7 million sq ft centre that opened in June 2021, through George Street and the Royal Mile to Fort Kinnaird, the second largest retail park in the UK, and on to the neighbourhood high streets of Leith Walk, Stockbridge and Morningside.
The council area has a population of 530,680 at mid-2024, the second largest in Scotland, and the Boxpod district reaches a little further into Midlothian and West Lothian. With Edinburgh Airport handling almost 17 million passengers in 2025, the busiest in Scotland, the M8 and M9 meeting the City Bypass on the western edge, and a half-hourly rail link from Waverley to London, it is the natural Scottish base for UK and international firms looking for commercial property in Scotland.
Business character
Finance and the public sector set the tone. NatWest Group employs around 8,400 people in the city and Lloyds Banking Group, which runs Scottish Widows, about 7,500, while abrdn is headquartered at 1 George Street and Baillie Gifford anchors a deep asset management community. Insurance and financial occupiers led office take-up in 2025, accounting for 22% of the total, with Royal London's 70,000 sq ft letting at 1 Thistle Street the largest deal of the year. The public sector is bigger still: NHS Lothian has close to 20,000 staff, the City of Edinburgh Council about 18,600 and the University of Edinburgh around 13,400, and the Scottish Government's offices at Victoria Quay in Leith add several thousand more. Technology is well established, with Skyscanner, founded in the city and now over 1,500 staff, and Rockstar North, maker of Grand Theft Auto, based on Holyrood Road. Life sciences cluster at the Edinburgh BioQuarter beside the Royal Infirmary, a partnership of the council, NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise and the University, and a proposed turbine blade factory at the Port of Leith points to an offshore wind supply chain. Tourism, the festivals and hospitality support a large seasonal workforce and steady demand for food, drink and short-let space. Other significant employers include Edinburgh Airport.
Transport & connectivity
- Motorway: M8 (Junction M8 J1, 6 miles)
- Nearest rail: Edinburgh Waverley (Haymarket for the West End and Exchange District) (260 min to London)
- Airport: Edinburgh (6 miles)
- Key A-roads: A1, A7, A8, A70, A71, A90, A702, A720 (City Bypass), A900
Market context
Edinburgh's office market is defined by a shortage of the best space. The prime headline rent stands at £48 per sq ft, achieved in the first quarter of 2025 at 23 Charlotte Square, up 30% over five years, and agent research forecasts at least £60 per sq ft by the end of 2030 because there is almost no new development. Prime vacancy is 1.0%, the lowest of any UK region, yet overall vacancy is 13.6% because secondary stock is plentiful, so good-quality suites in older buildings let for far less than the headline. Take-up in 2025 was 374,438 sq ft across 101 deals. Industrial space is tight too. A September 2025 study for the council puts prime industrial rents at £13 to £14 per sq ft, £14 to £18 for premium small and mid-sized units and a peak of £20, against a city-wide average of £9.30 and vacancy of 5%. On the high street, Princes Street has been in transition since St James Quarter drew away the big names, with Jenners, Debenhams and BHS converted to hotels, while neighbourhood pitches trade well.
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Commercial Property in Edinburgh
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