Three acquisitions over the past month show a minor lift in activity across the South East office market, according to global property advisor CBRE. The deals – IQ (Farnborough), Prospect First (Croydon) and Bayer House (Newbury) – value a total of just under £115m and follow a slow start to the year.
Available stock for the region currently stands at £864m encompassing 32 assets, up from approximately £805m in March. There are no dominant buyers in the market with 11 different purchasers for the 12 transactions that have happened so far this year.
Mark Routledge, Executive Director, Business Space Capital Markets, CBRE said: “As we move into the second quarter of the year, the South East office market is showing a slight increase in activity from the beginning of the year, bolstered by three deals over the past few weeks. Prime yields remain stable with a further £311m of stock currently under offer in eight transactions. With secondary yields drifting out to 10 per cent plus, there has never been a better opportunity to buy stock that needs active asset management, which can be purchased at less than replacement cost.”
Prime yields in the South East and M25 office market are stable at six per cent with secondary yields continuing to drift, according to CBRE.