Weekly Property Roundup

With everyone going away on holiday it's easy to think that there is nothing going on in the property market but as usual the property market is as active as ever.

New Kid on the Block

In the news this week; there is a new kid on the block. Quilvest, which manages the wealth of many high-net-worth individuals and a wealthy Swiss family, has joined with Grosvenor Group in backing a new vehicle launched by IO, the manager of multi-let industrial estates. The first IO investment joint venture with Grosvenor was set up in January 2013. In total, IO bought 14 estates for the joint venture at a combined cost of around £35m.

Mitsubishi Get Planning Consent

Japanese developer Mitsubishi Estate has won planning consent for a 40-storey office tower in the City of London. The new tower will be set amongst the tall buildings on the east side of the City. It will create an office-led, mixed-use tower with retail use at ground and mezzanine floor levels and a public access viewing gallery on the top floor. The tower will be located in between the Cheesegrater and the vacant 22 Bishopsgate site, where the Axa-led consortium mentioned in my last blog has submitted plans for a new scheme to replace the Pinnacle. The redevelopment at 6-8 Bishopsgate and 150 Leadenhall Street will be aimed at attracting both financial and insurance tenants.

Regions show Strong Performance

It has been reported by Property Week today that a strong performance in the regions saw investment in UK commercial property balloon to £36bn in the first half of this year – the second-highest total on record, according to Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH) latest UK Investment Transactions report. The report revealed investment volumes in the second quarter totalled £16.8bn, a 33% increase on the same period last year – although this was down 12% on Q1’s total, which was a record for a first quarter. The number of transactions also slipped by 25% and was marginally below the long-run quarterly average.