The last 9 months have seen a variety of big name takeover deals, some successful and some that have fallen at the last stage. The biggest, undoubtedly, has been the takeover of Canary Wharf thanks to the combined aggressive pursuit from Brookfields Property Partners and The Qatari Investment Authority. The deal seemed highly unlikely at one point, but was confirmed at 350p per share, far less than the estimated value of 500p+ per share. The chance to sell a highly illiquid asset was too good to turn down.

The level of foreign investment in UK commercial property market and particularly London has increased dramatically even just in the last year with an 24.4 Billion pounds invested last year which is as 25% increase of the 20.3 billion pounds invested the year before. This contributes to around 40% of the money invested into the commercial market.

Victoria has been shadowed by cranes for quite a while now and the market has been eagerly awaiting new stock to come to the area. As the area develops and enjoys reunification, office prices creep up to reflect the new and improved Victoria.

Most of the world’s population will be concerned by Alex Tsipras’s decision to call a referendum on the final bailout terms given to Greece by the countries creditors, which took weeks of talks to agree on.

Office rents across the capital have hit record highs – £180+ recorded in St. James’, £80+ in SE1 and the City Core, whilst prices in historically low-cost areas have seen radical changes from 5 years ago; tenants can now expect to pay at least £50 psf for a prime Shoreditch office space. With demand and a lack of supply inflating costs, development across the Capital has peaked. There is now over 9.5m sq. ft. of office space under development across London, however over one third of this has already been pre-let.

With office vacancy being consistently at historic lows the latest market research reports show no surprised with West End office vacancy’s at only 3%. This drought in supply has hugely been caused by a change in planning to allow office to residential development across London without the restrictions which were once in place.

Samuel Tak Lee is a Hong Kong based billionaire property developer who’s most prominent acquisitions in the UK was of the Langham Estate for £75 million in 1994. He then went on to develop the Knightsbridge Apartments. According to Forbes he has a net worth of £42.8 billion and is 19th on the Forbes list of Hong Kong’s richest. During 2014, the billionaire built up a stake of 5% in Soho’s Shaftsbury Estate which he then sold in part producing a couple of million pounds profit.

The buildings currently used as the French embassy and consulate, and owned by the French government are to be sold to the highest bidder. 21-23 Cromwell Road, South Kensington and 58 Knightsbridge are prime West End locations and are a hugely attractive opportunities for residential developers; each building is expected to fetch £40-50 million. 

The famous Battersea Power station has been getting ready for a massive redevelopment which will include a mix of residential, retail, office space and a roof garden. The development is planned to bring a centre to the community but with a trendy and out of the box feel, encouraging creative types to come and make the most of what it will have to offer.

A new development at 26–35 Drury Lane and 8–12 Dryden Street has been proposed by long leasehold owner Savills Investment Management and Helical Bar. The development agreement will involve the purchase of the 0.5 acre site by Helical Bar upon granting of planning permission, after which Helical will redevelop the existing buildings into residential apartments and retail and restaurant space. The site is currently occupied and comprises around 65,000 square feet of space, and is situated between Drury Lane and Dryden Street in Covent Garden.