{"id":14083,"date":"2023-04-27T11:53:29","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T10:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2023\/04\/27\/commercial-property-market-review-april-2023-2\/"},"modified":"2023-04-28T14:29:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T13:29:30","slug":"commercial-property-market-review-april-2023-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2023\/04\/27\/commercial-property-market-review-april-2023-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial Property Market Review &#8211; April 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>Investor confidence returns as pricing plateaus<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>UK commercial investment volumes totalled \u00a35.6bn in Q1 2023, according to a report from Savills, the second lowest quarterly volume since 2009.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>Amidst a volatile and unpredictable economic backdrop, investment volumes were lower than any quarter except Q2 2020. The average Savills prime yield now stands at 5.57% after yields in industrial and regional offices moved inwards by 25 basis points.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>Inflation figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) continue to remain high with the consumer price index (CPI) rising to 10.4% in February and only dropping to 10.1% in March. The report states that investors are now in \u2018<em>wait and see\u2019<\/em> mode, with many experts predicting that investment volumes could trend upwards later in 2023, should a market recovery materialise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>Commercial landlords at risk of non-compliance<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>One in every 20 square metres of commercial property space could be at risk of non-compliance with the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, according to a release by Knight Frank.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>Since the start of April, all tenanted commercial property buildings across the UK have needed an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of at least an E under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>From the 5% of commercial property floorspace currently at risk, offices (7.5%) and retail (5%) have the most \u2018F\u2019 or \u2018G\u2019 grade space. Hotels (2%) are the least at risk, though some experts think this may be an underestimate given that many don\u2019t require EPC ratings until a sale process is executed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>The stakes are high for landlords since buildings that fall short of the new standards could incur fines of up to \u00a3150,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>Higher vacancy rates for Scottish offices<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>Office vacancy in Scotland has risen to its highest level in seven years, according to CoStar Group, reaching 10.3% last month.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>As occupiers continue to reassess their space needs, vacant office space has increased by 51% since the first lockdown. The amount of unoccupied office space now stands at 10.9m sq. ft across Scotland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>A year ago, this was 9.2m sq. ft \u2013 and 7.2m sq. ft in March 2020. Since the pandemic began, net absorption of office space across Scotland has been negative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>Grant Lonsdale from CoStar Group, commented, <em>\u201cWhile the headline figures make for a sobering read, our data shows a mixed picture by building grade, age and location. Broadly speaking, firms are gravitating towards the newest and best offices, whether they are based in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Stirling or elsewhere.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-201336\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>London office moves on the up<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>In a turbulent market, 2022 saw the highest number of Central London office deals on record, according to the newly released London Moves report.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>Some 590 leasing transactions took place across the year, driven by a 58% year-on-year increase in sub-25,000 sq. ft deals, the report notes. In contrast, larger 100,000+ sq. ft deals decreased from 15 in 2021 to 10 in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p>New Central London occupiers increased to 63 in 2022 thanks in part to 33 relocating from outside Central London. <em>\u201cCompanies have responded to the challenges of the past few years by focusing on what\u2019s right for their business\u201d<\/em> commented Ben Cullen, Head of Offices UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>All details are correct at the time of writing (20 April 2023)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"hd-block hd-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong><em>It is important to take professional advice before making any decision relating to your personal finances. Information within this document is based on our current understanding and can be subject to change without notice and the accuracy and completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. It does not provide individual tailored investment advice and is for guidance only. Some rules may vary in different parts of the UK. We cannot assume legal liability for any errors or omissions it might contain. Levels and bases of, and reliefs from, taxation are those currently applying or proposed and are subject to change; their value depends on the individual circumstances of the investor. No part of this document may be reproduced in any manner without prior permission.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investor confidence returns as pricing plateaus UK commercial investment volumes totalled \u00a35.6bn in Q1 2023, according to a report from Savills, the second lowest quarterly volume since 2009. Amidst a volatile and unpredictable economic backdrop, investment volumes were lower than any quarter except Q2 2020. The average Savills prime yield now stands at 5.57% after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":14085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,36],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14087,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14083\/revisions\/14087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14083"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=14083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}