2-14 Baker Street has been bought for £29million by British Land, as part of £100million redevelopment plan.
British Land has acquired a prime office location in London’s West End, in order to take advantage of the increased demand for office space.
The property was sold, in an opportunistic deal, by Irish developer McAleer & Rushe.
The amount of leases of London office space has more than doubled since this time last year.
In the first quarter of 2010 leasing of Central London office space saw a 100% increase, compared to Q1 of 2009.
Reports suggest that this is the case all across London, with City of London reaching an above average occupancy rate and the West End seeing a significant recovery.
Within Q1 2010 the city actually leased or sold 2.2 million square feet of office space, compared to only 0.7 million sq-ft for the same time last year.
A financial report announced that Central London has seen a significant decrease in investments since the current government announced plans for the general election.
Cushman & Wakefield, a leading commercial property firm, reported that during the first quarter of 2010 investment in commercial property has fell by 50%.
As the announcement of the general election happened within the first quarter, it is thought to have had an impact on the investment within the capital.
British Land has recently announced that they have secured lettings on 465,000 square feet of office space since February.
British Land had previously established a significant London based deal with the Macquarie Group, Gill Jennings & Every LLP and Dickson Minto for 256,000 sq-ft of office space.
Now with similar lease agreements, British Land has reached a staggering 92% occupancy rate.
Due to a lack of availability office prices in London are expected to rise by approximately 43%.
The forecast by Knight Frank estate agents predicts that the average cost of renting an office within London will rise from £44 per sq ft to £52.50 per sq ft by the end of 2010.
Although the average price for offices varies across the city, increases are expected within specific London areas.
In the City of London office rent is expected to rise by 19% this year, whereas in the West End this is only an 11.5% increase. However, this means that the cost will be £72.50 per sq ft rather than the current £65 per sq ft.
London offices have recently seen the largest ever rise in rental values as the property market finally starts to recover from the recession.
The office rental market was seriously affected by the recession because businesses became reluctant to spend money on renting new office space.
But now, after two and a half years of decline, there is finally a price increase in the rent of commercial properties.
Property investment firm Threadneedle Property Investments have announced the signing of three brand new leases at 85 Newman Street in London’s West End.
The new tenants they have signed will help Threadneedle obtain an increase in rental income by £258,000. (more…)
Developer Derwent London Plc has predicted an increase in office space rent prices in central London this year.
They expect the rents to increase throughout 2010 as potential tenants compete for space, which is rapidly dwindling. Chief executive for Derwent, John Burns said “We should see positive rental growth this year,” in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. Derwent recently reported a 20% increase in net income from property, helping reduce the overall losses made by the company this year. (more…)
West End and City office space landlord Derwent London has reported a sharp pick-up in business this week.
The firm, who owns office property in the City and West End areas of London, announced a 9.8% rise in the value of its property portfolio over the last half of 2009. The figures partly offset the 12.3% drop in the first half of 2009, which left the portfolio down 3.3% for the whole of 2009. Derwent had previously reported losses of £34.9 million for 2009, which was an improvement on the £606.5 million in 2008. Property values in 2008 had also dropped by 22.1%. (more…)
The first tenant at the new Ealingcross office space scheme in London has been signed.
Ealingcross is based at 85 Uxbridge Road, Ealing in west London. It is owned by Neptune Land and Standard Life Investments’ Life Property Fund, represented by Montagu Evans and DTZ. It was completed last autumn, promising to bring West End standards of office space to west London. (more…)