Scottish commercial investment reached £1bn in the third quarter.
Edinburgh reported an investment total of £478.75m, the highest level recorded in the city for this stage in the year since 2007, according to Savills.
However, the total is currently 5% below the 10-year average of £1.1bn.
Of the total volume, 41% was transacted by overseas parties, attracted to the discounts the devaluation of UK sterling has allowed for, with entry prices 15-20% cheaper than they were four months ago.
Key deals include Aberdeen Property Investors buying Dundas House in Edinburgh for £25m, Triuva’s purchase of Waverley Gate, also in Edinburgh, for £63m and the FORE Partnership paying £23.3m for 50 Bothwell Street in Glasgow. All three deals completed post-Brexit.
Rod Leslie, associate director in the investment team in Savills Scotland, said: “A move by investors to redistribute money away from the more volatile stock markets, lower-yielding gilts and riskier equities, together with an improved debt market and stabilised liquidity within the retail funds, have combined to maintain a healthy level of investor activity in Scotland’s real estate sector.
“The few discounted acquisitions that emerged as open-ended retail funds took measures to create liquidity have quickly passed and we have returned to a relatively normalised market driven by investors chasing the defensive long income and covenant related deals.”
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