Yesterday’s talk was focused on the recent figures showing that the UK economy grew by 1.9% last year, the strongest it’s been since 2007, with critics arguing that it was ‘the wrong kind of growth’ or that these figures were only part of the picture. 

London Mayor Boris Johnson, one of the capital’s most talked-about characters, has instigated controversy recently with his involvement with Royal Mail Group’s development proposal.  The recently privatised company hopes to undertake the construction of a mixed-use site to include shops, restaurants, offices, and 683 homes – at the Royal Mail Mount Pleasant site, in London’s Islington Borough, and otherwise known as London Central Mail Centre. 

In the West End, the office market is getting tighter and tighter when talking in terms of supply of available office space. There are a number of reasons for this, one of which is the government bill allowing landlords to convert their offices to residential without having to obtain planning permission for change of use. With demand picking up, it’s becoming tougher to find new office as imbalance in the equilibrium of demand and supply is being created. 

Morgan Pryce recently acquired 1,313 sq. ft. for a property management company in the heart of Victoria, on Buckingham Palace Road, taking on a 10 year lease with a 5th year tenant only break. This floor was one of the last remaining floors of this size in Victoria at the time of this acquisition. The floor had been newly refurbished to cat A condition and provides raised flooring, capped off services for the tenant to fit their own kitchen or kitchenette as well as air condition units.

Jones Lang LaSalle announced last week they will be moving out of their home at 22 Hanover square and consolidate their office space in to 30 Warwick Street. JLL spent nearly 29 years in the 43,000 sq. ft. space in Hannover square which had become their largest HQ in the world. However, they now plan to move the majority of their employees in the previously occupied space of King Sturge at 30 Warwick Street and the remainder into 40 Bank Street, E14.

As we enter into the third week of January it is clear to see that the market is now back up and running and in full swing again after the extended Christmas period. So what does this mean for the property market? On the disposal side, landlords will be much more likely to bring their buildings to the market.

The frenzy at Kings Cross continues as Brockton Capital agree to pay 40% above the asking price for Ted Bakers North London HQ. Ted Baker are currently occupying 3-6 St Pancras Way, NW1 which is a three storey building occupying 262,800 sq. ft. of space and is currently valued at £60million. 

As all good property professionals will do, Morgan Pryce always advise their clients acquiring office space in Central London that they should seek a cap on their service charge which are usually linked to RPI rising annually. The reason for this is to protect the ingoing tenant from being stung further down the line in years to come as most leases today are 5-10 years long.

Qatar, the state that many are familiar with simply because of World Cup weather-related controversy, is in fact a major contributor to London’s investment in terms of commercial property.  The state, which has an official ‘Qatar Vision’ to coherently develop its wealth and assets (both financial and human) over the coming years, plans to erect a skyscraper reaching 27 storeys – and it hopes to put it next to The Shard. 

In the depths of the recession, investors stayed well clear of commercial property, residential property appearing to be much more of a safer avenue to go down.  It is well noted that when an economy is in terrible straits, the commercial sector of property will obviously suffer the most, being that it relies on the buoyant business sector for acquisitions. This sudden drop in interest even led to many fund managers imposing penalties and delays to those who wished to take their cash out quickly of any commercial related deals.