There has been a huge investment increase in offices in London's Midtown, at least according to Farebrothers, who specialise in commercial property in the area. Farebrothers says that more than £850 million has been invested in office space in the district just in the first financial quarter of this year. The number marks the highest amount of individual quarter investment in the area in more than three years, and Farebrothers say that it demonstrates the amount of confidence that is now placed in Midtown's rental growth prospects, with almost every sector of the United Kingdom's investment sectors having some interest in the area.
"Everyone wants a piece of Midtown," reckons the head of investment at Farebrothers, Alastair Hilton. "Fresh rental evidence that headline rents are improving means that there will be further pressure to drive prime yields down below the current 5.25 per cent mark."
Underpinning the market are three particularly sizeable transactions that have taken place in the Fleet Street area in the first quarter of this year. The biggest of them all saw Chinese Estates, a Hong Kong listed company, purchasing the 430,000 square feet River Court, 120 Fleet Street EC4, for £280 million from an Irish syndicate, the building being currently leased to Goldman Sachs for another 14 years, until 2025. The second biggest deal was the purchasing of Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer from Union Investments for £148 million by the Malaysian Employees Provident Fund, while the third biggest deal saw JP Morgan buy 60 Victorian Embankment , EC4, for £190 million from The Carlyle Group.
