24th January 2018

Commercial property sales forecast to exceed £50bn in 2018

Research conducted by Colliers International, has projected commercial property sales in the UK to exceed £50bn this year and challenge last year’s total of £55bn. Whilst the industrial sector will follow its recent upward path, so too will retailers seeking warehouse space for their burgeoning online sales. The rapid expansion in London of We Work, the office space outsourcer, is projected to result in an additional 3.5 million square feet of space.

The Head of UK Research at Colliers International, Mark Charlton, was quoted as saying: “Property performance is likely to moderate in 2018 as pricing remains pressured and rental growth modest, but on the up-side, the market will become less volatile, offering attractive, stable returns for investors.”

Will 2017’s active retail sector be repeated in 2018?

Last year was a good one for the retail sector of the UK commercial property market, with multiple developments emerging, including Rushden Lakes in Northamptonshire and Westgate Oxford.

Many developments have taken their opportunities from the planned route of the new ‘Elizabeth Line’, created by the massive infrastructure project of Crossrail in the capital.

Coal Drops Yard, which is anticipated to launch in the Autumn of 2018, will see the King’s Cross shopping development adding approximately 100,000 sq. ft. of retail, leisure and event space to the £1bn plus project. Several top brands have already signed up for space, including the luxury shoe and footwear maker ‘Cheaney’, together with the ethical bag brand ‘Lost property of London’, as well as ‘Cubitts’ a locally based eyewear outlet.

Business rates concessions for scottish listed properties

The review group headed by former Royal Bank of Scotland Chair, Ken Barclay, and appointed by the devolved Scottish Government in 2016, has finally made recommendations to: “. . . encourage bringing empty property back into economic use.”

Responding to this, the devolved Scottish Government has said that it will go ahead with plans that will restrict business rates relief on these properties to be limited to a maximum of two years. In addition, for any listed buildings that have been left vacant for five years, it will not apply increased rates that nor mally would have been applicable to vacant buildings. They went on to add that: “We will enable discretion for local authorities in the application of this measure, so that local circumstances can be accounted for.”


 

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