The latest Acuitus commercial auction raised £28m with the sale of 79% of the lots offered, as buyers looked beyond the political deadlock surrounding the UK’s exit from the EU.
Auctioneer Richard Auterac said: “Investors are drawn to commercial property predominantly for the sustained strength of its income return, and what we saw today was confidence in the sector to go on delivering that regardless of the short-term political situation.
“The demand for the largest lots in the sale – 40% of the assets sold went for more than £1m – was reflected in the keenness of the yields achieved, and there was appetite for every asset type and every geographic region.”
The restaurant and leisure sector continues to be the object of sustained investor demand. A restaurant in Newbury let to Côte Restaurants until 2034 at a current rent of £92,500 pa sold for £1.5m – a yield of 5.62%. A 2,564 sq ft KFC drive-thru on Hernston Retail Park in Bridgend, which currently produces income of £66,300 pa and is let for another five years, sold for just over £1m – a 6.21% yield.
In the offices sector, 60 Abbeygate Street in Bury St Edmunds – a 4,632 sq ft building with parking, let until 2025 at a rent of £80,000 pa – sold for £1.3m, a 5.81% yield and capital value of £280 per sq ft.
The highest price achieved in the room was for a 23,000 sq ft B&M Retail shop on Park Road, Liverpool (pictured), which sold for £2.95m – a 5.75% yield – after attracting 97 bids.
The Imperial War Museum film archive facility in Cambridgeshire attracted interest ahead of the sale from a wide range of high-net-worth investors. Comprising 11 storage units on a 12-acre site, it was guided at £250,000, and eventually sold for £630,000, a yield of 5.69%.
The next Acuitus auction will take place on 23 May at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, W1.
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