Tag Archives: investment
London office market strong in uncertain time for commercial property market in UK
Commercial property rental values grew by 0.1% across the UK in May, slightly down on 0.2% per month for the last three months, according to the latest index. Capital values grew by 0.2%, continuing the growth trend seen since the start of the year, the data from the CBRE monthly index also shows. Rental growth in May was weighed down by West End and Midtown offices and these two submarkets recorded rental value growth of 0.1%, their weakest since October 2013, leading Central London offices rental values to their weakest growth of 0.2% since June 2013. Although some parts of London demonstrated flat or slightly negative performance, parts of the capital performed well, such as the City, where office rental values grew by 0.6% last month, compared to just 0.1% in both March and April. Meanwhile capital values across the UK grew by 0.2% in May, in line with the level of growth seen throughout the year, with the exception of March when values were hit by the one-off impact of stamp duty tax changes. Total returns followed the same pattern as capital values, demonstrating a steady growth of 0.6%, maintaining the level seen since January. ‘Commercial rents and capital values continue to grow in a period of great uncertainty. The London office market has seen some volatility, but the fundamentals of the market are strong,’ said Miles Gibson, head of UK research at CBRE UK. ‘This time next month, we’ll have a clearer idea of the direction capital values and rents will go in the second half of the year, and a flavour of the pace at which they will get there,’ he added. Meanwhile, 2015 saw a marked increase in banking and finance leasing activity in Central London according to another report from CBRE which says that a relentless drive to cut costs has forced financial services occupiers to focus on reducing real estate costs and adopting strategies to occupy their space more efficiently. Using a combination of offshoring and nearshoring, there has been an ongoing move by big banks to relocate non-core functions outside of Central London, as seen in HSBC’s decision to move 1,000 head office staff from London to Birmingham, the report points out. Indeed, financial services firms are also turning to outsourcing. Areas such as risk management, trade reporting, compliance and IT are increasingly being outsourced. Last year alone, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Commerzbank, JPMorgan, Société Générale and Standard Chartered joined forces last year with Swift to develop and use a centralised due-diligence system. However despite the inherent challenges, banks continue to cite client needs, recruitment, profile and presence as key reasons to keep office space in London. This is reflected in last year’s leasing figures with banking and finance occupiers leasing 3.2 million square feet, some 4.9% above the 10 year average. There are a variety of compromises companies may make as part of… Continue reading
Positive sentiment on future house price growth in UK slips to three year low
Household sentiment on future house price growth in the UK has slipped to a three year low with 23.7% believing that the value of their home increase over the last month. Some 4.4% believe that prices have fallen, according to the latest house price sentiment index from Knight Frank and Markit Economics with the reading falling from 61 to 59.7. Households in the North East perceived that the value of their home fell in June, the first time that households in any English region perceived house prices had fallen since August 2013. The future HPSI, which measures what households think will happen to the value of their property over the next year, fell to 67.7 in June from 70.3 in May. This is the lowest reading recorded by the index since August 2013. The gap between sentiment in the North and South of the UK is now wider than at any time since the inception of the index. But some 6.5% of UK households said they planned to buy a property in the next 12 months, up from 5.4% in May and the highest number since August 2015. ‘The decline in the future household sentiment index to a near three-year low coincides with growing uncertainty over the result of next week’s European Union referendum as the debates over the UK’s future step up a gear,’ said Gráinne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank. ‘The proportion of households who expect the value of their home to fall over the next 12 months rose to the highest level in nearly two years, but overall households still expect the value of their property to continue rising in the coming year, despite the uncertainty about the result of the vote,’ she explained. She also pointed out that the regional disparity in the index readings highlights the multi-speed housing market in the UK at present, with gap between sentiment in the North and the South widening to the biggest margin since the index began in 2009. Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, agreed that heightened political and economic uncertainty seems to have weighed on house price sentiment to some degree in June, with expectations for the year ahead slipping to the lowest since August 2013. However, he pointed out that the month to month easing in house price sentiment was relatively modest, suggesting that UK households perceived little fundamental change in property market conditions since May. ‘Instead, ultra-low mortgages, improving labour market conditions and little sign of impending interest rate rises all appear to have helped keep house price sentiment at an elevated level in comparison to the survey’s historical average,’ he added. Continue reading
Sales and prices falling in Hong Kong, latest analysis report shows
Residential sales increased by 2% month on month in Hong Kong in May, but transactions are down 11% year on year, the latest Land Registry figures show. But with developers offering deeper discounts and more incentives, a number of primary projects received a positive market response, according to the latest market analysis from international real estate firm Knight Frank. It points out that prices have dropped for seven consecutive months by a cumulative 11%, according to provisional figures from the Rating and Valuation Department. Mass residential prices led the decline, losing 11% in the period, while luxury residential prices dipped 8%. The report suggests that clouded by a potential US interest rate rise in June and abundant upcoming supply, residential land prices continued to edge down. A domestic site in Pak Shek Kok, Tai Po was sold last month for an accommodation value of HK$3,620 per square foot, down about 20% from eight months ago when the adjacent site was sold. However, the super luxury sector remained strong, indicated by a Shenzhen buyer’s acquisition of a 9,212 square foot luxury house at Gough Hill Road on The Peak for a reported HK$2.1 billion approximately, a record price for the city. Knight Frank expects more mainland buyers to return to the market in the future and points out that a number of primary projects are scheduled for release in June, hoping to reach the market before a possible US interest rate rise. ‘While the government restated in May the continued implementation of cooling measures, we do not consider the sales rebound in the past two months an indication of a general market recovery,’ the report says. ‘We maintain our forecast of a 5% to 10% drop in the luxury segment and up to a 10% drop in mass residential prices,’ it adds. Continue reading
