Investor spend on office space in Central London reached over £11 billion in 2021, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Despite overall spend still being below the annual ten-year average of £14.5 billion, figures from CBRE suggest that the total value of Central London office transactions last year hit £11.3 billion, which was 49 per cent higher than the £7.6 billion amassed in 2020 and on a par with 2019.
One notable transaction among these was property giant Brookfield’s purchase of 30 Fenchurch Street, in a deal worth a reported £635 million.
The news comes as a major boost to the commercial property industry at a time when the sector has and is continuing to face significant challenges, with some businesses in the capital and across the country looking to jettison office spaces and transition to more remote ways of working in the long-term.
In England, work from home guidance is currently in force after the country moved to Covid Winter Plan B restrictions in December.
Yet, the London Evening Standard’s Joanna Bourke writes that property buyers suspect that firms will look to attract and retain staff by purchasing modern and more energy efficient and environmentally friendly workspaces.
Bourke adds that many tenants buying up office space in the capital are expected to operate under a hybrid working setup, with staff likely to be mixing their hours between working from home and attending the office after the pandemic ends.
CBRE’s head of London investment, James Beckham, commented: “Given the pent-up demand for income producing assets, there will likely be a continuation of the momentum that has been building over the last couple of quarters into 2022.”
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