MORNING NEWS: Capital markets recovery on the cards, says JLL

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the national papers. JLL’s top team has welcomed a rebound in capital markets revenue as the firm closed out earnings season for the big US-listed agencies. “We are in early stages of recovery for the real estate capital markets,” said chief executive Christian Ulbrich. “According to JLL’s proprietary Global Bid Intensity Index, bidder activity further improved in the third quarter from what we saw in the first half of the year, particularly for larger institutional transactions.” Ulbrich said the agency had yet to see “any pause” in what he expects to be a steady recovery. “There will be no flood of new deals coming, but we will see a seasonal uptick now in the fourth quarter and then we expect a continuous improvement over the course of 2025,” he added. Real estate rent collection is back at pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest figures from Re-Leased. The firm’s Tenant Health Index, which covers 90,000 commercial property leases, shows that average rent collection across industrial, hospitality and leisure, office and retail stands at 96% for the 12 months to September. That compares to 50% at its Covid-era low. Retail saw the strongest recovery with an average rent collection rate of 96%, up from a historic low of 44% in May 2020. The industrial sector extended its lead as the UK’s most enquired-after commercial use type last month, according to exclusive data from EG’s Propertylink listings site. Our latest Demand Barometer shows that industrial properties accounted for 44.9% of all enquiries across the UK, making it the sector’s strongest performance since May. Its lead over retail now stands at 2.8 percentage points, following a summer spell when the two sectors were almost neck and neck. However, retail enquiries still represented a higher proportion of the total than they did in September, and October’s 42.1% is second only to the sector’s 2024 high-water mark of 42.3%, which it hit in August. There’s also news on Hammerson taking full control of the Westquay shopping centre; confirmation of EG’s scoop from last week on Rockwool’s bumper deal in Birmingham; and bad news for pizza lovers – the problematic planning system means Domino’s is struggling to open stores as quickly as it wants. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: JLL boss: Capital markets in ‘early stages of recovery’Rent collection back at pre-Covid levelsDemand Barometer: What occupiers want – October 2024Urban Logistics starts recycling assetsDerwent in deal drive as it offloads Angel officeHammerson takes full control of Westquay centreHow to turn the south coast’s sheds greenEDITOR’S COMMENT: Better together: what a united real estate could really meanOxford offices are defying the oddsHollinrake appointed as shadow housing and communities secretaryMHCLG convenes 375 industry leaders to support 1.5m homes planOperational real estate investment doublesRockwool completes Brum manufacturing hub dealPlans in for 1.3m sq ft Chorley logistics hubWates names new head of resi businessPLP hires new head of investment managementShawbrook supports Urban Centric’s Cardiff co-living schemeColliers joins peers with upbeat Q3 numbersBarberry’s £20m West Midlands warehouse approvedSNG secures £100m development loanJLL toasts double-digit revenue growthEdgware Road placemaking strategy revealedM&S picks up pace of store openingsRelated Argent appoints agent for Brent Cross Town retail and leisureDomino’s Pizza slows expansion plans due to planning delaysBirmingham and Manchester drive regional office leasing leapSama lodges plans for 300-bed Birmingham PBSA schemeBank of England readies new rate cut as Budget hangs over outlookUK construction sector growth slows, housebuilding drag intensifies, PMI showsHeat from sewers, Tube and Thames could soon warm London buildingsBudget will push up prices, warn bosses of Wetherspoons and M&S (£)Berry Bros families fear inheritance tax ‘body blow’ (£)Banks face growing risk as double defaults on commercial loans mount (£)