Member Article

Yorkshire helps regional property deals hit the heights

The Yorkshire region has played a major role in seeing demand for regional property stock reaching a two-year high in Q2 2013, according to new research by Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH).

During that period, LSH estimates that £3.24bn has been invested in commercial property outside London (excluding portfolios), with investment volumes in Yorkshire significantly high due to a number of notable transactions.

Deals in the region reached approximately £334m in Q2 2013, representing an increase of 267% on Q1 2013, at £91m.

This can be attributed to a number of large deals including Legal & General’s purchase of The Light in Leeds for £91m, the sale of Vanguard Shopping Park in York for £62.55m, Tritax Assets’ purchase of The Range in Doncaster for £37m and the £42m sale of The Green student scheme in Bradford.

The major investors in regional property were UK buyers – accounting for 89% of the quarterly total. In Yorkshire, the figure was just under 60%.

Deals across Yorkshire recorded an average yield of 8.3% in Q2 2013 compared with Q1 2013 where this figure was around 12.1%

The average deal size in Yorkshire also rose from £7.6m in Q1 2013 to £20.9m Q2 2013, in contrast to the rest of the UK where the average deal size fell from £28m in Q1 2013 to £16m in Q2 2013.

Abid Jaffry, Northern head of Capital Markets at LSH, said: “The regional investment market is currently dominated by UK investors who have been priced out of the Central London market and are seeking to take advantage of the greater value that can be achieved within the regions.

“A significant proportion of the transactions were of considerable size which is indicative of investor conditions across the North and highlights the groundswell of cash in the market at present.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .