Helping You Cope With The Omicron Variant: UK Real Estate Investment Is Back To Pre-Covid Levels

Sometimes everybody needs a little hope. With inflation rising and the omicron Covid-19 variant on the loose, now is as good a time as any for looking on the bright side.

The latest analysis of UK commercial real estate investment transactions from Savills offers plenty of things to help you cope.

The firm's conclusion is that 2021 volumes will match the pre-Covid total recorded in 2019.

By 31 October 2021 total UK commercial real estate investment volumes reached £44.7B, Savills said, up by 15% on the same point in 2019, and up 29% on 2020. It will hit £50B by New Year’s Eve, the firm said, making it as strong as 2019, before the pandemic struck.

In some favoured sectors the figures look even better. The firm predicted that full-year investment in the UK industrial and alternative sectors will exceed both the five- and 10-year averages. Industrial transaction volumes are already at £12.8B even before the November and December completion rush. This is 97% above the long-term average.

No surprise that yields are hardening, too. Savills' all-sector UK prime average commercial property yield remained at 5.04% at the end of October, with downward pressure expected as the year ends.

“The final quarter of the year is traditionally the most active for investors, and with pent-up demand finally having been unleashed in the second half of this year we’re expecting a lot of yield movement in the final couple of months,” Savills Joint Head of UK investment James Gulliford said.

“We said last month that we expect total UK volumes will hit £50B by the end of 2021, and we’re seeing nothing in the current figures that has made us rethink that position.”