The petrol station property market shows no signs of slowing down, with demand for sites continuing to outstrip supply and lenders keen to support acquisitions with low interest rates.
That’s the verdict of commercial property company Christie & Co’s half-year report on 2026, which finds the sector in buoyant form, and crime rates, staff and running costs no barrier to sector health.
With competition for sites driving property prices skyward, particularly in London and the South East, operators are increasingly turning their attention to Scotland and Wales, where forecourts often operate with limited competition compared to other regions, and planning constraints make new-to-sector sites as difficult to gain approval for as they are elsewhere.
Christie & Co’s report details that lending conditions reflect this competition, with margins of just 1.8% above base rate being offered by some providers, and finance firms having a “strong” appetite for the sector.
The firm says major forecourt groups remain “highly acquisitive”, as evidenced by EG On The Move’s recent deal for 85 former Prax sites. Some 80% of buyers using Christie & Co’s services were either operators with multiple forecourts or corporations adding to their portfolios, with just 20% of purchases made by smaller independent operators, indicating the market’s fragmented nature continues to gradually coalesce and consolidate.
The report notes that while revenue from EV charging is growing at “busy A-road locations and motorways”, this facility is “not yet a primary driver of trading performance in most cases”, while forecourts with diversified revenue streams such as valeting, extra parking and on-site restaurants continue to attract the most interest from buyers.
In total, Christie & Co sold, valued or advised on over £549m worth of forecourts in the first half of 2026, while the firm says the average time a deal took to get to from agreement to completion was just 30 weeks.
