Monthly U.K. investment volumes surge to €4.22b

About £3.7 billion (€4.44 billion/$5 billion) of U.K. commercial property was transacted in January 2022, putting volumes 37 percent more than the long-term monthly average, according to Savills.

The office sector made up 51 percent of total January investment volumes (£1.89 billion/€2.7 billion/$2.57 billion), but the international real estate advisor highlights that there has also been a resurgence in investment in retail assets, with the sector seeing £924 million (€1.11 billion/$1.3 million) of investment last month — the highest January retail investment volume since 2016.

Pricing has been competitive for out-of-town retail, leisure and food stores over the past two months, said Savills, resulting in the average prime yield for retail property hardening to 5.8 percent, a drop of 45 basis points during a 12-month period, and contributing to the all-property U.K. average prime yield moving in to 4.91 percent. This places both yields back at their pre-pand