Scotland

Scottish office market investment reaches new high




Investment into the Scottish office market reached a record high after £342m was transacted in Q1 2018 – a 96% increase on the historic first quarter average volume – according to new data.

The latest research by international real estate adviser Savills has reported that prime yields in Edinburgh increased a further 25bps (basis points) to 5% in the first three months of 2018.

Aberdeen saw £131m of office investment in the first quarter of this year, higher than the previous two years and marking the strongest year of overseas investment into the city on record.

Savills also said that investor demand for prime lots in Glasgow remained strong and was highlighted by L&G LPI Income Property Fund's acquisition of 3 Atlantic Quay for £50 million and Hermes acquiring Skypark for an undisclosed sum.

Office take up in Q1 2018 totalled 493,000 sq ft in the core office markets of Aberdeen wider, Edinburgh city centre and Glasgow city centre.

This figure represented a 9% increase above the five-year quarterly average.


Savills has forecasted that core Scotland take up for the whole year will reach 1.8 million sq ft.

Mark Fleming, investment team director at Savills Scotland, said: “One of the key determinants of yields in Scotland’s office market is the political environment and, as a second independence referendum looks less likely, we are in turn seeing ever more investors looking to buy across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

“Notably, domestic investors are very much back in the market and actively looking for opportunities.

“This boost in sentiment has applied a downward pressure on yields of prime assets in Edinburgh, however, there remains a 130bps spread between average Scottish office yields on non-prime assets and ‘rest of UK’ average yields, and investors continue to recognise the opportunity to find value in Scotland.”

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