Almost £3bn of commercial real estate assets have been pulled from the UK market since the start of the year.
The £2.9bn of withdrawn assets represents 20% of all stock offered so far in 2020, according to analysis by Cushman & Wakefield, echoing the 20-25% of stock withdrawn in the six months following the Brexit referendum in 2016.
Jason Winfield, Cushman & Wakefield’s head of UK capital markets, said: “Buyers looking for big discounts in the wake of Covid-19 are likely to be disappointed. As we saw after the vote to leave the EU, sellers seem willing to hold out and wait for a better price later in the year when some stability is expected to return to the market, rather than accept any chip on pricing now.”
The firm’s research found that just £630m of new stock was brought to market during April and May, a record low and compared to a monthly average of £2bn.
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