January 7, 2013

Appetite for long leases presents challenges

The news from the weekend that Axa Real Estate is looking to raise around £1bn to invest in buildings with very long leases has resparked the debate into what sort of lease represents the best value for investors and tenants in these uncertain times. The new fund will target commercial properties with minimum twenty year leases even though investors have to pay a premium for such properties and the majority of occupiers don’t want them. More →

January 6, 2013

UK construction hits new low as service sector shrinks

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Property

The three little words nobody wanted to hear at the start of 2013 are triple dip recession. Yet even as the US managed to avoid its own fiscal cliff at the turn of the year, two reports raised fresh fears that the UK’s recovery would be postponed for a while yet. According to the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index, UK construction hit a six-month low as the sector dropped from an index of 49.3 in November to 48.7 in December. This is well below the index of 50 which indicates a contraction in activity. Meanwhile another report from Markit/CIPS reported an unexpected fall in the UK’s service sector. More →

January 2, 2013

London companies heading off to the East

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Hello to all this

…East London that is. According to property consultants Cushman & Wakefield we are seeing a net migration of companies away from their West End heartland towards the supposedly more creative and tech-focussed districts of Clerkenwell, Shoreditch and King’s Cross. The firm reports that the take-up of West End office space fell by around a quarter to 2.5m sq ft in 2012.

January 1, 2013

Regional slump responsible for overall UK property fall

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

The New Year starts with news from Chicago based property broker Jones Lang LaSalle that investors spent some £ 30 billion on income generating property in the U.K. during 2012, about 9 percent less than in 2011. However there was a marked disparity between the London market and the rest of the UK. London deals totaled £18 billion in 2012, the highest figure for four years, while purchases outside the capital reached 12 billion pounds, the lowest amount over the same period. More →

December 31, 2012

Global office market to stabilise during 2013

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Property

A new report from consultants Cushman and Wakefield has predicted that the global commercial real estate market will stabilise over the next twelve months and, in some areas of the world, may enjoy a degree of growth. While acknowledging wide regional variations, the report claims that there are some clear global themes that can be identified, not least in the ongoing growth of markets in Asia. Significant growth is not expected in the majority of regions until 2014 and beyond.

December 30, 2012

Free Unified Comms Briefing available

by Mark Eltringham • Briefing, Facilities management, Knowledge, Premium Content, Property, Technology, Workplace design

The latest technology that will revolutionise the way we work is now upon us. It is called unified communications and it is a principle that strikes at the very heart of this new world of fragmented yet interconnected work. It is a comparatively straightforward idea intended to solve a complex challenge. As organisations have started to adapt to an economy that is always-on, global and without boundaries of time and space, they have looked for ways to integrate technology to deliver a better working experience for employees, reduce costs both for themselves and their clients and improve their competitiveness. The Briefing can be downloaded here.

November 27, 2012

Commercial property deals on the rise in Yorkshire

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Investors have almost doubled the value of commercial property transactions in Yorkshire, according to property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton.However, the level of deals is still slightly below the level at the same time last year. LSH says the total value of Yorkshire investment deals in the third quarter of 2012 rose to £303 million from £172 million in the previous quarter, but was below the £306.5 million total for the third quarter of 2011.