Ryden dominates at CoStar’s annual Agency Awards

Ryden dominated at CoStar’s 2016 Agency Awards ceremony in Glasgow last Thursday (6 October) after scooping an impressive eight trophies; the most of the evening for any individual firm.

Affirming its position as Scotland’s top performing industrial property agent and the market leader in Glasgow’s offices sector, the firm won four out of five league tables in both sectors.

Costar’s research found that in the industrial market, Ryden concluded 203 disposals, compared with its closest competitor’s 80 and transacted 2.08 million sq ft of space, almost 0.5 million sq ft more than its nearest rival. The firm’s industrial agents also outperformed their competitors in terms of number of instructions and availability by sq ft.

In Glasgow’s offices sector, Ryden completed 81 disposals, double the number of its nearest rival and disposed of over 340,000 sq ft, almost 50,000 sq ft more than the firm in second place.  Ryden also handled more office instructions in the city than any other firm and has almost 200,000 sq ft more space on the market than its closest competitor.

Alan Herriot, partner in Ryden’s industrial agency team, commented: “To win eight awards in one evening is an excellent endorsement of Ryden’s market leading position.  The results are a reflection of the hard work and expertise of our dedicated regional teams who provide unrivalled advice and service to our clients.”

Looking specifically at the industrial market, Alan added: “In our opinion, the industrial market is now 18-24 months behind the development cycle. This can be seen in CoStar’s data which shows stock has been diminishing year-on-year since 2012 whilst take-up has remained steady during the same period.  The lack of development, coupled with the acute shortage of prime available accommodation, has seen achievable rents surpass 2007 levels.  Investor appetite remains positive within the sector, underpinned by the restriction of supply of good quality available industrial accommodation and steady rental growth.”

Commenting on the Glasgow office market, Ewan Cameron, Ryden’s regional managing partner in Glasgow, said: “Transactions have tended to focus on the new and higher quality larger floorplate stock, which is reducing supply in this sector.  No speculatively developed new-build is programmed to commence in the forseeable future with the result it will be well into 2019 before we see any new additions of scale. As such choice is now limited in the higher end larger floorplate market. Whilst there are the obvious implications of political uncertainty, Glasgow is ready for the next cycle of development.”