Yorkshire lifts commercial property investment figures to a new level in H1

Lambert Smith Hampton’s UK Investment Transactions report also reveals a marked difference between the two quarters: £185.5m of investment transactions was reported between April and June - a 60 per cent drop on a strong first quarter.

Investment within the office and industrial sectors in Yorkshire rose compared to Q2 2013.

UK buyers represented 85.7 per cent of total investment for the second quarter of 2014 compared to 52.7 per cent in the first.

Abid Jaffry, director and regional head of capital markets at LSH, said: “We’ve seen a fundamental change in the market. Deal volumes are up more than 50 per cent from this time last year and investors are much more active in the regions. Although we have seen a drop in the total value of deals for Yorkshire this quarter, we expect overall volumes for 2014 to surpass those of 2013.”

Meanwhile, CBRE said overseas and London-based investors were fiercely competing to purchase stock at a rate not witnessed for years.

The firm’s Leeds Capital Markets team, which has completed over £100m of investment transactions in Yorkshire and the North East in the first half of 2014, said demand was strong for most types of property especially single and multi-let industrial buildings and city centre offices.

CBRE’s deals have included the £4.1m acquisition of Airedale House on Albion Street in Leeds, comprising 41,393 sq ft of retail and office accommodation, to London based Bridges Sustainable Property Fund,

CBRE’s senior director of Capital Markets Alex Whiting said: “We are currently experiencing levels of investor interest not witnessed since before the recession.”

He added: “Investor demand for central Leeds offices has been particularly strong.”