Trinity Leeds lettings rise, says Land Securities

Land Securities, the UK's largest listed property company, said the 350m Trinity Leeds scheme was 45 per cent let with 12 per cent in solicitors' hands and a further 8 per cent at an advanced stage of negotiations.

In a third-quarter interim management statement Land Securities also said it expected "mixed news" in the first three months of this year but with steady demand from corporates.

Francis Salway, chief executive, said: "We enter our final quarter confident in our ability to continue to exploit the opportunities we have created across our portfolio as well as reacting to wider market activity, such as the earnings accretive acquisition of the Overgate Centre in Dundee at an attractive yield of 6.9 per cent.

"We expect a wider range of buying opportunities in 2011, although current flows of capital into the sector mean that bidding may remain competitive.

"The first quarter of 2011 is likely to see mixed news flow around the consumer and the economy, but we expect occupational demand from large corporates to remain steady.

"It is our expectation that we will soon be in a position to start a further retail development at the Atlas Site in Glasgow, such is the interest in the new space that will be created."

Trinity Leeds is attracting "substantial interest" with two years to completion "remains on target to be one of the most profitable developments we undertake this cycle," it added.

Land Securities, which in November posted a 6.7 per cent rise in first-half net asset value, is betting on private sector growth to fill space in its new projects, weaning itself from reliance on the public sector as job cuts bite