This year we are bound to see continued investment across the entire market. This will mainly be made up by overseas investors who make up the majority of purchases in Central London, but also the UK institutions are expected to be very active again. It is expected that the UK institutions will focus on lot sizes between £30 -£100 million and are tending to be encouraged by strong rental growth which is being predicted to continue over the next 5 years.  

In an ever tightening West End office market it is becoming harder and harder to achieve good savings of the quoting terms. In the last few months average rent free periods have dropped below one month per year term certain in central West End locations. 

In the current office and commercial property market in London, landlords and investors are looking to maximise their income and returns as much as possible, and as quickly as possible. The market has now swung into the landlords’ favour due to the restricted availability of prime office space in the capital. As the economy improves, demand is increasing from tenants who either want to start up in London or increase their presence there.

Over the last 6-8 months, the West End office market has been getting noticeably tighter and tighter and the recent space Morgan Pryce acquired for a client in Soho really emphasised how tight the market really is.

London is set to continue in its role as a target for international investment and thriving property market, according to recent research. 

‘The click and collect’ era looks set to hit the London Underground as major supermarket chains such as Waitrose and Tesco have partnered up with Transport for London this week. The deal agreed will see online consumers able to pick up their shopping from the London Underground. With an average of 11 million trips on the Underground a day, the Mayor of London has identified this as a potential opportunity to make better use of the capital’s Underground network. The initiative will be trialled in six Underground locations initially. 

Morgan Pryce is a tenant acquisition agent and only ever acts for tenants looking for office space in Central London. We have access to the entire Central London office market and are not tied to any particular buildings or landlords. This is all we do as a company and we are best placed to know what spaces are available at any one time.

The one thing that is certain about the commercial property market is that it’s never static. This means it’s difficult to predict trends and that it can take a while to establish patterns, particularly as the time of year can have an effect on the figures. 

It seems that Old street, now dubbed Sillicon Roundabout due to its attractive status to the startup world in the TMT sector is now attracting thousands of entrepreneurs from the US. 

Signs of positivity in the economy can be diverse and can arise from many different sources. One of these indications is the recent rent increase at the Cheesegrater building, half-owned by British Land. The company, which owns a variety of commercial properties across the capital, has secured a lease to Servcorp with a rent of £72.50 per square-foot. The Australian company, which deals in serviced offices, has agreed to take 12,000 square feet of space on the 30th floor of the Skyscraper.