July saw central London’s commercial property market go from strength to strength, as the month’s sales drove turnover to £11.5billion for 2017. A new report discussing commercial property investment evidenced £2.35billion had been invested in central London’s commercial market in July alone.
This enormous level of investment was no doubt due to the record-breaking sale of 20 Fenchurch Street, better known as the ‘Walkie Talkie’ building, to Hong Kong-based Infinitus Property Group for £1.28billion.
So what can you get in the London commercial property market?
What can £1.28billion buy you? Try 37 stories and roughly 700,000 square feet of prime office space, and a purchase that will offer a solid return and more through rental income for its buyers.
The record sale of the ‘Walkie Talkie’ building – now officially the most expensive property transaction for a single UK building, commercial or otherwise – surpasses the previous sale of the nearby ‘Cheesegrater’ building, also sold to a Hong-Kong investor for £1.1billion.
From these two sales alone, it is clear to see that foreign investors have a keen interest in the UK commercial property market; The Telegraph reported that Asian investors are accountable for 63% of City turnover in 2017 so far. In comparison, European investors are responsible for 17%, whereas the UK accounts for only 11%.
Foreign appetite for London commercial finance persists
Despite the uncertainty that had been cast over the UK property market following the Brexit result, there clearly remains a huge appetite for foreign investors to buy in the global business centre of London.
This is certainly not a market trend that Enness has ignored. In both commercial and residential spheres, demand for property finance in the UK from foreign nationals, and expats, is on the rise. In a direct response to these increased levels of enquiries, Enness has opened a fourth office – and second international office this year – in Dubai’s Gate Village, DIFC, to better cater for foreign nationals and investors looking to place their money in the safe haven that is the UK property market.
