The total investment in commercial property in the West Midlands soared to £2.31bn last year and major investors still have a healthy appetite for more deals in the region, according to national commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH).
Growing confidence: Adam Ramshaw
Investment in the region increased around 44% from £1.59bn in 2013, demonstrating the growing confidence in the market, said Adam Ramshaw, head of office and director of capital markets at LSH in Birmingham.
He was presenting the latest figures contained in LSH’s UK Investment Transactions report to an audience of more than 50 West Midlands property professionals at the company’s offices in Edmund Street, Birmingham.
They heard that investment in the UK commercial property sector totaled £20.5bn in the final quarter of 2014 – a 26% increase on the previous quarter and the highest quarterly performance on record.
In both the West Midlands and East Midlands investment during 2014 increased significantly as UK institutional investors looked for opportunities outside London. This performance helped to propel investment for the year as a whole to £59.6bn – the second highest annual total on record after the £61.7bn posted in 2006, and 18% greater than the volume of deals in 2013.
Investment in the regions increased by 41% to £21.1bn for the year as a whole – the second highest figure on record. This was primarily the result of the resurgence of UK institutional investors – which increased inflows by almost 30% in 2014 – buoyed by improving economic sentiment beyond the capital.
Ramshaw added: “The commercial property investment market enjoyed a stellar 2014, and activity was within a whisker of breaking the record that was set at the height of the last boom in 2006.
“Transaction volumes are now roughly double what they were as recently as 2012, which reflects investor appetite for commercial property in both London and the regions.
“While the headline numbers may invite comparisons with the last boom, there is an important difference this time: investors are now considerably less reliant on debt finance. As a result, our forecasts point to transaction volumes returning closer to trend levels in 2015. The uncertainties surrounding the forthcoming General Election may also serve to dampen activity.”
By http://www.bqlive.co.uk/2015/03/04/commercial-property-investors-hungry-for-more/
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