October 2009 Archives

With a flurry of activity in the investment market occuring of late just where has all the cash come from? Recent research from Lambert Smith Hampton has dug deeper to identify just who is buying and who is selling.

London developers will not be pleased by the news this week that the Crossrail levy charge will be extended for nine years after the completion of the east-to-west line. A guidance note on the levy form from the Greater London Authority, published this Tuesday, allows for it to be extended until 2026 despite the fact that the project is expected to complete in 2017.

The extension is said to be a result of the current lack of development activity which will mean that it is unlikely that the levy would raise £200 million by the end of construction.

Mayor Boris Johnson has however offered a 20% on the levy for three years to March 2013 in an attempt to boost development in the capital.

With prime space continuing to drive the market Nomura's move to Watermark Place seems to have sparked a waterfall of City deals. But with little time remaining to secure prime stock and breaking news that Catlin has now exchanged on 115,000 sq ft at 20 Gracechurch Street, EC3, all eyes are now focussing on who will be left high and dry?

The long drawn out requirements, which have been on and off, plodding along since the onset of the credit crunch, have now returned to the scene in what appears to be a dash for the finish line.  The winners will receive a home in the best stock in the City; the losers face a trip back to the drawing board.

For occupiers, the change of pace has clearly come as a bit of a shock, and those looking at options in the Square Mile have now lost almost all confidence that they can bag a bargain by waiting to see which developer bites.

Landlords are starting to get bullish over rents as they realise the lack of prime stock available, but they must still maintain a sense of realism, weighing up deals against vacant building costs.

Nomura tested the water, and in its wake the deal has left almost 1million sq ft of major requirements all battling over a few "prime needles" in a "haystack of secondary space".

But which occupiers will miss out and will the losers be forced to wait for likes of the Heron Tower and the Pinnacle in 2011?

It is set to be an interesting few months.

The details of our latest webcasts have now been released:

An introduction to search engine optimisation for commercial property marketers.

Our next two webcasts for commercial property marketers will be taking place at 2pm on Thursday 12th November and Thursday 26th November.

The first webcast on Thursday 12 November provides a 15 minute introduction to search engine optimisation using commercial property examples. The webcast will cover:

• How a search engine finds your website.
• What you can do to help get your website found.
• How a search engine ranks your website.
• What you can do to get listed higher on a search page.

The second webcast on Thursday 26 November provides practical hints, tips and tools commercial property marketers can use to help get their business noticed through search engine optimisation.

Presenters:

Rachel White - Search Marketing and Analytics, Reed Business Information.

Robert Monaghan - Online Sales Manager , estatesgazette.com.

Registration: To view either webcast please register for the event on LinkedIn and join the commercial property marketer group.

Following the results of Q3 2009 LO Market analysis a sense of optimism appears to be in the air.

Take up and investment disposals are up, and market sentiment as a whole seems to have improved.
 

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But are we expecting too much too soon in a time when we are still facing the realisation of how far we have fallen?

The Q3 2009 LO market analysis breakfast briefing took place this morning with two sittings taking place. 

A healthy number attended the early start to be greeted with coffee and croissants, all wanting to get the first glimpse of the latest report and those ever important agency league tables.

Again CBRE has made first place, disposing 280,000 sq ft more than any other agent.

For those of you which did not attend the Central London letting agent's league table - Q3 2009 can be seen below:

For the full Q3 2009 market analysis report, which includes the individual market share by market tables, please visit click here 

British Land and CB Richard Ellis emerged triumphant at the fifth annual Estates Gazette Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane.
 
The event, which was hosted by comedian Rob Brydon, awarded BL the National Property Company of the Year award and the National Property Adviser of the Year was given to CBRE.
 
Patrick Vaughan and Raymond Mould also won awards for outstanding contribution to the property industry.

But they weren't the only ones which came away from the evening with a smile on their face. The EGi Research team, pictured below, also attended and a certain Mr Paul Wellman, from the London Residential Team, appears to be pretty pleased with his choice of seat when greeted by his fellow diners.

A lucky man indeed!!