Despite investors continuing to see the sector as lucrative, Courteney Donaldson said that a drop in demand was a ‘common theme’ being felt by nursery owners ‘from the south east to the north west’ of England last year, leaving some fearing they would not be able to make ends meet when the National Living Wage (NLW) rises in April.
The Christie and Co property expert told Nursery World, ‘A number of operators across England in particular say they saw a large drop in occupancy last summer compared to what they were expecting. They had more school leavers leaving in July, and the number of new starters in September were not where they would normally be, and they haven’t seen the same numbers in January either. I think that is fueling some of the concerns around salary increases in April.’
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