Commercial property in 2017

A new report has shown that turnover in the ‘Square Mile’—that is, the City of London—is set to reach a record £12.5billion, represent a record high for commercial property investment in the UK’s capital city.

Despite fears around Brexit, the commercial property market has been incredibly resilient over the last year. If anything, this has been prompted by the weak pound. In this sense, Brexit has actually stimulated investment, predominantly from Asian investors.

2017 has seen two record deals in the commercial property investment world. Earlier in the year, the ‘Cheesegrater’ building was sold for a huge sum. However, this record was later broken by the sale of the ‘Walkie Talkie’ building. In both instances, the sales were from Hong-Kong based investors.

Enness Commercial in 2017

Our own experience of the commercial property market certainly supports the idea that foreign investors are keen to purchase in the UK. Enness Commercial has rounded off 2017 with one of our largest deals this year, a £17million commercial finance facility for a mixed portfolio held by two Asian investors. Interestingly, the properties in this portfolio were across the breadth of the United Kingdom, showing it isn’t only London that holds appeal for foreign investors.

We’ve also assisted with the arrangement of an increasingly varied commercial finance transactions. In addition to large mortgages for commercial property, this year we’ve seen an increasing focus on other commercial finance facilities such as unsecured business loans. These have been hugely beneficial to a number of our clients, and come as a result of an increasingly diverse lender market.

How has Enness adapted?

We are always striving to better serve our clients. This huge influx of foreign investment, both commercial and residential, led us to, open a fourth office – and second international office this year – in Dubai’s Gate Village, DIFC. This office has enabled us to better cater to foreign nationals and investors looking to place their money in the safe haven that is the UK property market.

If you are interested in commercial property investment, or any other form of commercial finance, get in contact for a further chat about how we can help.