Buyers return to Scottish real estate market

THE return of domestic investors following a post-independence referendum hiatus helped push investment in the Scottish commercial property market to a record high in the second quarter of this year, according to research from real estate advisory business JLL.

That helped drive an 86 per cent rise in investment over the first six months of the year, with the second quarter making up for sluggish investment growth between January and March.

Overall, investment hit £1.4 billion for the first half, with £692 million of the total being spent in Edinburgh and £344m in Glasgow.

JLL director Chris Macfarlane said that while UK institutional investors had exercised greater caution since 2014 “it’s clear that UK funds have found a renewed confidence and the fire power to compete for the biggest deals”.

He added that “a dearth of quality stock has meant that when prime opportunities do come to the market, particularly for larger lot sizes, pricing is holding up well”.

Among the deals to close in the first half were Hermes Real Estate’s £80m acquisition of Glasgow office development Skypark and Aberdeen Standard Investments’ £27.5m purchase of a 113-unit residential block build to rent scheme in Edinburgh.

Mr Macfarlane added that risk appetite remains low, with buyers favouring long income streams.