Spending on offices in central London fell back in the first half of the year as a tidal wave of foreign money hunts down increasingly scarce properties for sale, agent DTZ said today.
Its latest snapshot of the market showed £5.4 billion spent in the first six months of 2013, down 29% from the £7.6 billion a year earlier. The fall comes despite high-profile deals such as the Lloyd’s of London building being snapped up for £260 million by Chinese insurer Ping An. The demand for property in London — from Asian pension funds and Gulf buyers as well as domestic purchasers — is such that DTZ estimates a £20 billion wall of cash is waiting to be spent.
More and more buyers are being forced into off-market deals — approaching owners directly over a potential purchase — due to the lack of stock being openly marketed, it adds. Off-market deals accounted for 28% of transaction values, up from the typical level of around 15%.
