Demand for prime London property has begun to outstrip supply as UK retail funds completed most of their forced sales in 2008 and several of the major listed real estate firms have eased the pressure to sell assets by embarking on large rights issues, according to Simon Barrowcliff, executive director of the CBRE Central London Business team.
Demand for prime London property has begun to outstrip supply as UK retail funds completed most of their forced sales in 2008 and several of the major listed real estate firms have eased the pressure to sell assets by embarking on large rights issues, according to Simon Barrowcliff, executive director of the CBRE Central London Business team.
Speaking at the CBRE Media Briefing at Mipim in Cannes, Barrowcliff said that the most visible investors in the London market in recent months have been the German open-ended funds. More recently, investors from the Middle East, the US and Continental Europe have also been actively seeking prime property in the UK capital.
'On the prime end of the market we are beginning to see a floor,' Barrowcliff said. But he cautioned: ' We have seen floors before but they have proved fragile and been broken.'
Nevertheless, he added: 'On the prime end of the market I would not feel completely suicidal to call the bottom of the market. But we are a long way from doing the same for the secondary market.'
