Investors will look more to alternative assets as prime commercial supply dries up, according to Colliers International.
The agent calculated that total property transactions across all sectors rose to £2.8bn in March from £2.2bn in February.
Of the sales, there was interest in regional retail and industrial assets. Central London investment was mainly focused on office redevelopment opportunities.
In its April UK property snapshot, Walter Boettcher, chief economist and forecaster for EMEA at Colliers, said: “Investment transaction levels continue to increase slowly. Given the limited amount of prime product being offered to the market, this suggests that investors are looking increasingly at alternative asset classes and higher yielding properties.”
Other observations made in the snapshot, included grade-A office space continuing to decline in city centres.
In the retail sector, Colliers said rental recovery outside of London did not look near, although the rate of decline was slowing.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
