Overseas capital accounts for over half of investment into U.K. hotels in 2018

Overseas investment into U.K. hotels hit £3.4 billion ($4.5 billion) in 2018, the highest level since 2015 (£4.3 billion/$5.7 billion). Foreign capital accounted for just over half of the total £6.6 billion ($8.7 billion) invested in the sector last year, according to Savills.

“U.K. hotels are an attractive proposition for a broad range of investors due to the ongoing strength of the occupational markets in spite of current political uncertainty,” said Rob Stapleton, director in the hotels team at Savills. “This is true not only in London but across key European markets and, when coupled with an abundance of equity sources and restricted stock availability, we expect to see investors continue their push into secondary markets as the hunt for yield continues.”

The firm notes that 2018 levels are 87 percent above the long-term average for overseas investment into the sector (£1.8 billion/$2.4 billion). This significant uptick can be attributed to large portfo