U.K.’s South East heats up as office investment hits €1.76b in strongest quarter since 2013

The commercial office investment market in the South East of England has seen one of its busiest first halves of the year ever, according to Knight Frank.

Simon Rickards, head of South East capital markets at Knight Frank, said, “This has been a particularly strong first half of the year for investment, with the exposure to growth industries such as life sciences and tech that the South East has, proving attractive to investors. Available stock of this type though is limited meaning strong bidding when opportunities appear.”

Total investment into commercial offices in the second quarter 2021 across the South East region (excluding Central London) was £1.49 billion (€1.76 billion/$2.07 billion), the highest quarter for investment volumes since fourth quarter 2013 and the second highest since 2005.

Investment activity in the quarter was up 400 percent on the second quarter 2020, the first phase of the pandemic, but was also up 49 percent on the post-electi