London still key for investors – C&W
Cushman & Wakefield says London remains a key city in which to do business – investment activity in the capital’s commercial property market remained at a high level during the second quarter of 2010, with £2.78bn transacted in the key City, Docklands and West End markets.
“To date this year, £4.45bn worth of property deals in central London have taken place – more than double that for the same period last year (£2.11bn),” C&W noted. The London market remains attractive to overseas investors thanks to the many current predictions of rental growth, and sterling’s weakness against the dollar.
Middle Eastern and Asian investors have been particularly active, C&W says, noting that the sale of the Knightsbridge estate to Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Group for around £600m accounted for almost a third of West End investment in Q2. Total transactions in this part of London were £1.68bn for the quarter, up 95% year-on-year. Only last week Mitsubishi Estate Company sold Bow Bells House in the City for £140m to an overseas private investor in order to unlock funds for a new development drive in the capital.
In the City and Docklands markets, £1.1bn of property was transacted during the quarter, up from £0.56bn in Q1 and 57% higher year-on-year. “There is also some £1.1bn worth under offer which is expected to complete in Q3,” the group noted.
Bill Tyser, head of City investment at Cushman & Wakefield, said there had been expectations that a combination of election uncertainty, the Greek economic crisis and the UK’s Emergency Budget would lead to a stalling of investor interest. “This has not happened and we are seeing a high level of activity,” he confirmed.
