Since the European economic crisis, foreign investors have been predominantly investing in London, and London alone. Investment has been concentrated in offices in Central London, this market being considered the safest option. But recent research dispels this theory, and is now showing that there are equally good investment opportunities across the European Union (EU).

It is expected that Nick Boles, Planning Minister, will shortly be unveiling proposals to streamline the planning process by, once again, seeking to introduce new Permitted Development Rights enabling the change of use of offices into residential without the necessity of obtaining planning consent. His objective is to jump start the supply of housing through the conversion of empty office buildings to overcome the severe housing shortage.

Offices in St James’s are highly sought after, St James’s being a location that is only a stone’s throw away from the ever popular and most desirable location of all, Mayfair. We, at Morgan Pryce therefore receive many requirements for the area of St James’s, and throughout the coming months we have found it harder and harder to secure space in this area due to the lack of supply, the market within this proximity becoming almost as tight as Mayfair.

The introduction of the Jubilee line completely transformed South Bank as it linked the area with the West End, the City and Canary Wharf and almost overnight seemed to bring it closer to Central London. Now, the area is seeing large redevelopment in the form of projects such as The Shard building and the refurbishment of two of London’s busiest stations, Waterloo and London Bridge, all of which is expected to attract more people to work in the area.   

Shoreditch is currently experiencing a ‘media boom’ in terms of office space. Traditionally Soho has been the hub for media firms starting out in the business but as rents continue to rise in Soho, and the effects of the recession still hang over many businesses, especially start-up companies, the latter in particular are looking to tighten their purse strings and cut costs at every opportunity.

Serviced office provider Ventia celebrates the arrival of 2013 with the addition of Eight St. Thomas Street, SE1 to its portfolio. Available now, with 65% of the space already let, the new London Bridge site is Ventia’s 10th acquisition in Central London since 2009.  Already a popular location for serviced offices, the Eight St. Thomas Street office is situated between the contemporary Shard building and bustling foodie destination Borough Market. 

As we shiver through January I was reminded that it’s also the 50th anniversary of the coldest month ever recorded in the UK. That was the winter of 1962/3. Whilst there was no white Christmas, the country was blanketed in snow on Boxing Day where it lay that year on frozen ground until Easter. The higher reaches of the Thames were frozen over for weeks and ice flows were a hazard to shipping in the Channel. Blizzards and snow drifts caused severe disruption to the movement of goods and travel.

In 2013, there will be a surge of speculative development in Central London – this being a type of development that is conducted under the expectation that the building will become occupied upon completion, but without any formal commitment from an end-user.

Many people are still struggling through the economic downturn and finding it hard to believe that much will improve, especially as there has been little change within Europe. Despite this there is clearly still some optimism as Deloitte has just released a report predicting that the UK office market will bottom out within 2013. 

Many people were surprised to see that take-up of London offices is up this month. With the backdrop of the economic recession and problems in the Euro zone many expected the usually resilient office market to suffer as well; however this does not seem to have been the case. Many overseas investors believe that London is an economic ‘safe haven’ for investment and the property market is no exception.