Investment in central London property was up by more than 50% in the third quarter, compared with the same period of 2016, with Hong Kong buyers dominating the city.
The third quarter of 2017 saw investment of £4.82bn in central London’s commercial property market, up from £3.1bn in Q3 last year, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
City of London transactions in Q3 totalled £3.25bn and Asia Pacific took a 74% share of total outlay in the City’s commercial property market. There were four purchases of £250m or more by Hong Kong-based investors in Q3, including the purchase of 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3, which was acquired by Infinitus Property Investment for £1.285bn in July. The average lot size in the City increased to £116m in Q3.
The West End saw £1.57bn of investment, with a far more balanced spread of buyer locations: Asia Pacific investors only accounted for 12% of total investment, which was smaller than Continental Europe (25%), Middle East (22%), UK (19%) and North America (16%).
In both areas, the majority of vendors were from the UK, marking a significant shift in the overall ownership of London assets.
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