News – Deals – Market
James Couse joins the team
We have a new member of staff, James Couse. James brings to us his extensive agency expertise in the City and London niche markets and we are very happy he has joined
£149m lease exit – what are the real costs?
As Meta pay £149 million to British Land, to get out of their lease obligations at 1 Triton Square, what are the real costs involved and to whom?
West End Investment Market Upturn
The West End investment market is showing some signs of recovery with over £1bn of deals under offer, whilst availability is at over £4bn
WeWork – ‘Substantial Doubt Exists’ about its Future
Flexible workspace provider WeWork warned that “substantial doubt exists" about its ability to continue as a going concern
London Office Market Overview
Interest rates, quality & sustainability High interest rates are being blamed for a slump in Central London’s office market, in the first 6 months of 2023, with investor spend on buildings dropping by more than 50%. The total investment volumes were 55% lower than a year earlier, and a [...]
City of London Offices Sell for Nearly Double Guide Price
The 56,000 sq ft office building at 5-10 Great Tower Street has been bought by real estate group Dominus for a reputed sum close to £25 million, against Cushman Wakefield’s guide price of £15 million. The sale comes as the City of London has indicated it may relax the Square [...]
Manchester & Bristol set to eclipse London Commercial Property Investment
Manchester and Bristol have been flagged as the UK’s commercial property hotspots over the next decade as investors seek to achieve better returns than the traditional, most sought after, London markets offer. CBRE has picked Manchester and Bristol as the standout locations for commercial property investment over the next ten [...]
Net Effective Rents for Prime London Offices Approach Pre-pandemic Levels
A fall in rent free periods being offered across the London office market have led to net effective rents rising faster than headline rents. Net effective rents for prime space continued to rise in Q1 2023 and are at around 0.5% of their pre-pandemic levels. Headline rents, across London’s sub [...]
WeWork Shares Continue to Slide
WeWork Inc stated last week that it had received a non-compliance notice from the New York Stock Exchange, due to its stock closing below $1 over a consecutive 30 trading-day period. Shares of the flexible workspace provider continue to slide. The company will have six months to regain compliance. The [...]
Green Light for £50m Central London Offices Refurb
Planning permission has been granted at 21 Bloomsbury Street for the refurbishment of these 86,000 sq ft Central London offices. The refurb is to be undertaken by Morgan Capital on behalf of Capital 38 who acquired the building in 2012 for an undisclosed sum and will give the building a [...]
Central London Office Investment Bounce Back
Central London investment has rebounded in the first quarter of 2023 following the lowest levels of investment on record. This signals the start of a recovery in volumes and is thanks to an influx of Asian money. The £1.65bn investment in central London offices in Q1 was more than double [...]
Q2 Office Sales Value Downturn
The office market is forecast to see a fall in sales values over the next quarter whilst rents are expected to see some growth in comparison to the first quarter. This can be seen as purely a product of the cyclical nature of property and it reacting to other markets; [...]
Overheard in the
B W V
“Never Knowingly Undersold”
All gets a bit tricky with that mission statement going into the world of property as John Lewis are finding to their cost after launching into the property sector following the appointment of Dame Sharon White as chairman back in 2020.
Their build-to-rent scheme in Ealing is reportedly likely to result in losses of £57m and bids on the sale of the upper floors of its Oxford Street store, for redevelopment into offices, are now floundering, due to rising interest rates and the present economic microclimate.
Their venture into property, whilst Waitrose is underperforming, does to seem likely to be on track to generate two fifths of group profit via non-retail areas by 2030. Maybe it would have been prudent to address the problems in the core business rather than introduce more through diversification.
We Once Worked
…but is certainly not the case now as WeWork stock falls off the edge. It’s not difficult to see where and how it all went wrong but the future of co-working space should remain strong, albeit the model slightly different. Suffice to say we haven’t overheard “Buy, buy, buy” anywhere, let alone in BWV, and methinks its more of an imminent “bye bye”
Most Prominent Real Estate Leaders to Watch in 2023
Happy Days – it would seem our somewhat low key digital campaign is now reaping benefits as we have recently been informed that we have been shortlisted as Victory Magazine’s “The Most Prominent Real Estate Leaders to Watch in 2023” Whoop! Whoop!
Ah, reading the announcing email a little further, the squib dampens. It’s seems that we have been shortlisted to be given the opportunity to appear in a special edition of the magazine running “The Most Prominent Real Estate Leaders to Watch in 2023” as a feature. Furthermore there is a nominal sponsorship fee of $1,200 to appear in said proposed edition. Dollars? Hold the phone where is this mag?
Well we have had a look at Victory Magazine and have concluded this may not be the best way to spend $1,200 worth of marketing (we get two years of ed for that – regardless of exchange rate). Sorry to say it will not be Mr F on the cover of the above nor Closey on the cover below anytime soon.
Hmm – seems we were wrong!
Having given unsolicited email marketing a bash over the last month ed decided to get an alternative point of view to those of us here at HM. To add a further angle to the debate we gleaned the opinion of AI which started off thus…
“In the ever-evolving digital landscape, email marketing remains a cornerstone strategy for businesses looking to engage with their audience, build brand loyalty, and drive conversions.”
Thanks for that chaps – for those interested in exactly what they said you can read it here.