How Yorkshire's investment market could be outweighing the Northern Powerhouse

According to Lambert Smith Hampton’s report on UK Investment Transactions (UKIT), more than £500m of commercial property assets changed hands across Yorkshire in Q2 of 2018.

This comes as studies show the regional market grew at a faster rate than the wider Northern Powerhouse.

Lambert Smith Hampton’s report found Yorkshire’s strong start to the year was continuing apace, with £523m of commercial property assets sold in Q2 - the highest volume recorded for almost three years and up 32 per cent year-on-year.

Luke Symonds, of Capital Markets in Yorkshire, said: “We were optimistic that the flying start to the year for Yorkshire’s commercial property investment market would continue and these figures show it has been another impressive quarter with some excellent headline deals.

“The volume of £523m across Yorkshire was the highest since Q3 2015. To put this into context, it outperformed all UK regions aside from the South East, West Midlands and Scotland.

“Looking ahead, although concerns persist around the uncertainty of Brexit and high profile CVAs in the retail sector, there is plenty of cause for optimism

“Our outlook suggests that regional offices may become the sector of choice for savvy and flexible investors seeking good returns.”

This compares to an uplift of seven per cent over the same 12-month period across Yorkshire, the North East and North West combined.

The Yorkshire region saw 46 deals during the period, slightly down on the first quarter of 2018 but up three per cent year-on-year.

At £235m, the total volume invested was more than double the previous quarter, with major deals including Brockton Capital’s £63m purchase of The Pinnacle, a 145,000 sq ft office building in Leeds, and APAM’s £26.6m purchase of Acero, an 80,000 sq ft multi-let office building at Sheffield Digital Campus.