New CBRE Research Reveals London’s Real Estate Landscape is Changing

Global real estate advisor, CBRE, has released new research, “London’s Future: Driving the Growth of Real Estate” which breaks down London’s real estate market, from delving into investment trends to exploring occupier requirements across the capital. While London has consistently topped global investment and occupier wish lists, its real estate landscape is diversifying, according to the findings.

Investment into London

CBRE’s findings show that real estate investment across central London, for all asset classes, has averaged £18.1bn per year over the past decade, representing almost one third (32%) of the total UK real estate investment.

It’s not just the assets that are diverse, so is the investor base. The research finds that, since 2016, international buyers (from over 50 countries) have completed 62% of all property sales.  Inbound capital has predominantly come from Asia, followed by Europe (excluding the UK) and North America. The office and retail sectors have proved particularly attractive to overseas purchasers, accounting for 69% and 65% respectively.

Since 2003, just under 7,000 companies have invested in 7,693 London‑based business activities stimulating the creation of over 300,000 jobs. The city has been selected by companies from a broad range of industries and origin countries, demonstrating its diverse appeal and competitive market.

Changing Occupier Landscape

Focusing on the City market, the research highlights the broadening of industry activity and the evolution of occupier types.

The market has diversified, with the data highlighting a reduction in the historic dominance of banking and finance occupiers (who acquired 57% of the total space-take in the 1980s, compared to 26% in the 2020’s to date), driven by the tech, media and telecommunications (TMT) sectors growing their real estate footprints.

TMT industries now equate to just over half (55%) of the banking & finance space-takes in the 2020’s until now, with 6.6m sq ft taken by banking & finance companies, while TMT companies took 3.6m sq ft of space in the same market.

Read the full report here.