Thursday, December 23, 2021 7:46 AM
With £ 6.81bn of office assets traded by the end of November and 44 buildings currently on offer, the city’s total investment volumes in 2021 will reach £ 8bn d ‘by the end of this year, according to real estate giant Savills.
This assumes that the sale of 5 Broadgate, the headquarters of UBS, which has reportedly been offered to the Korean NPS for an advertised price of £ 1.25 billion, will not trade until the new year.
If the sale of 5 Broadgate proceeds as planned in the first quarter of 2022, Savills said it would contribute to a potentially record-breaking first quarter for the city, surpassing the previous high of £ 3 billion set 14 years ago in 2007.
According to Savills, the cumulative total of £ 6.81bn reached at the end of November was almost double the volume reached at the same point in 2020, when just £ 3.4bn had been traded.
North American investors
89% of November’s monthly revenue was off-market, Savills said, and the month was dominated by US investors, with Blackstone and PGIM acquiring properties.
This means that North American investors retained their position as the city’s leading buying group in 2021, accounting for 32% of total 2021 turnover. UK and European investors respectively accounted for 25% and 24% of volume. total.
“The City market ended the year on a high note, with volumes broadly comparable to 2019 and well ahead of 2020, showing clear investor confidence in the resilience of London,” commented Stephen Down, Manager investments in central London.
“In view of the numbers, 2022 should have an equally strong start, dominated by the sale of the UBS headquarters in London,” he continued.
“While American buyers have led the pack this year, we expect the next 12 months to see a more diverse set of international buyers return, particularly those from Asia-Pac and the Middle East, assuming that travel restrictions are not re-imposed, ”Duvet added.
