Property Review – May 2019

Savills recent UK Commercial ‘Market in Minutes’ report has revealed that in 2018, all sector investment volumes totalled £62.4bn, a decrease of 4.8% on the previous year. The trend has continued this year, with volumes to the end of April down 15.7% on the same period last year. Interestingly, UK hotels have avoided this wider trend, with total hotel transaction volumes reaching £7.8bn last year, up 45% on 2017 data. The sector has been boosted by the acquisition of a number of large portfolios.

Edinburgh is the next destination that flexible office provider WeWork has selected as its third city in the UK to establish. Backed by billions of pounds of investor cash, the New York based start-up is opening 46,000 sq. ft on George Street, which will accommodate around 800 tenants. The premises, in the city’s New Town district, will be ready towards the end of 2019.

During the first quarter of 2019, shopping centres worth only £20m changed hands. According to statistics from commercial property data specialists Costar, this compares with a 10-year quarterly average of £783m. Mark Stansfield, Head of UK Analytics at CoSta r commented that this was the weakest quarter in 16 years and “probably this century”.

• Gross mortgage lending across the residential market in March 2019 was £20 billion, 0.5% lower than the same month in 2018
• The number of mortgages approved by the main high street banks in March 2019 was 9.1% higher than March 2018

• UK house prices grew by 1.4% in the year to March 2019, up from 1.0% in the year to February 2019
• House price growth was strongest in Yorkshire and The Humber where prices increased by 3.6% in the year to March 2019
• The lowest annual growth was in London, where prices fell by 1.9% over the year to March 2019