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Property Viewpoint: John Ogden, CBRE

The result of the UK Referendum shocked many and none more so than leading Leave campaigners.

John Ogden, Managing Director - North West, CBRE, analyses the change to the property market since June’s EU Referendum vote.

The result of the UK Referendum shocked many and none more so than leading Leave campaigners. In the wake of the decision, some predicted that the negative impact of Brexit would be seismic; however, after the initial shock of the result, markets have proved remarkably resilient.

Direct transactions slowed in the first half of the year as deals were pulled and a ‘wait and see’ attitude prevailed in the run-up to the vote, but stability and activity quickly returned to the North West Investment Market, after the UK voted to leave to European Union. 

Since then there has been a number of high-profile transactions across sectors since the vote, including DEKA’s purchase of 1 St Peter’s Square in Manchester City Centre for £164m, Tritax’s acquisition of Kellog’s distribution facility in Trafford Park for £23.5m and the sale of Barclays’ flagship branch in the city centre for £10m.

We are clearly operating in a different economic and political environment following the referendum, but remain very confident that Manchester’s and the North West’s strong fundamentals will remain attractive for both domestic and overseas investors.  

The depreciation of Sterling now provides a competitive advantage to the UK and we’re regularly welcoming new overseas entrants seeking to acquire assets and benefit from the low exchange rate.

With government bond yields having reached record lows, commercial property will continue to offer an attractive premium. The whole of 101 Embankment is currently under offer and with DWP seeking 80,000 sq ft by the end of the year, we can expect to see the announcement of some significant transactions in the coming months.

It is clear, for now, that the result of the EU Referendum has not had any discernible impact.

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