Slight dip for UK returns
Total returns on UK property dipped marginally to 0.9% in November, according to MSCI’s IPD UK Monthly Property Index.
Across all property types returns fell by 10bps from the 1% for October as the office sector showed signs of a slowdown.
Office capital growth rates fell by 20bps from 0.9% to 0.7% month on month, while retail and industrial growth rates remained firm at 0.2% and 0.8% respectively.
With office income returns holding at 0.4%, the total return for offices in November was down to 1%.
Treasury queries Granite sale
The Treasury Select Committee has raised further questions over the sale of a portfolio of former Northern Rock mortgages, dubbed Project Granite, to Cerberus in November this year.
The committee’s chairman, Andrew Tyrie, has written to the economic secretary Harriet Baldwin asking about the sale price, possible tax revenue losses and the deal’s effect on customers, among other issues.
The company won the £13bn portfolio from UK Asset Resolution.
Grosvenor in Liverpool refi
Grosvenor Fund Management has completed the £410m refinancing of the Grosvenor Liverpool Fund, which owns the 2.4m sq ft Liverpool One shopping centre.
The seven-year loan was provided by BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Royal Bank of Scotland, Société Générale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
GPE agrees £90m refi
Great Portland Estates has secured a £90m, five-year loan for the Great Ropemaker Partnership on 214 and 200 Gray’s Inn Road, WC1.
The loan from RBS and Crédit Agricole CIB refinances an existing £73m loan arranged in 2011. It comes with an initial LTV ratio of 41% and coupon of 2.67%.
