LONDON - Britain's commercial property market is returning to life after its post-pandemic freeze, albeit largely at much lower prices.
New office buildings are seeing robust demand, with investor M&G's new office towers at 40 Leadenhall in the City of London more than 80% let. The cost of building prime offices in London has risen to more than 500 pounds per square foot now from less than 400 pounds before the pandemic, construction consultancy Turner & Townsend alinea said. Half of that increase was down to inflation, with the rest down to better amenities and green credentials, it said.
But office sale volumes are still down 21% so far this year, MSCI said, lagging the rest of the UK market. There were also no deals over 100 million pounds in the first half of this year, the first such six-month period since 1999, according to CoStar.