London suburbs such as Bromley and Brentford are enjoying a commercial property boom as buyers priced out of the centre of the capital look to snap up offices, property firm CLS said today.
The company, around half of whose £1.2 billion portfolio is centred on London, owns a clutch of properties in locations which include New Malden, Acton, Bromley and Brentford.
But CLS, which has spent more than £40 million on suburban offices in the past two years, said a “significant increase in competition” from both foreign and domestic buyers as well as more readily available bank credit had pushed up prices in the outskirts of London.
The business’s chief financial officer John Whiteley said: “There are far fewer bargains about. We’ve bid on £90 million of property in the past six months and looked seriously at around three times that, but we’ve not bought any.
“We don’t want to overspend on any of them, we’ve been a bit greedy.”
Demand for space in cheaper areas of the capital has pushed rental values up almost 9% in the past six months.
The UK’s biggest listed property company, Land Securities, continued its recent run of wheeler-dealing in shopping centres today as it sold its 50% stake in Bristol’s Cabot Circus to AXA Real Estate for £267.8 million. The company recently spent £656 million on a stake in Kent’s Bluewater shopping destination.
