Neil Hart, Managing Director of leading North East property firm Bradley Hall and BH Group, discusses his positive outlook on the commercial property market following the results from a successful first quarter.
During the first few months of this year, we saw an impressive amount of commercial properties sold and let throughout the North East. Deals more than doubled in comparison to the same period last year, giving us confidence that the market is on the up.
The increasing number of properties that Bradley Hall has been instructed to market, enquiries from local, national and international business people as well as the deals made by our team all indicate that the region’s commercial property market is healthy and thriving.
Supply and demand is remaining level thanks to the growing number of businesses and organisations taking up vacant or newly built space, especially the industrial sector. As a result, commercial property prices are fair and stable, which is then encouraging even more business people to acquire office, industrial, leisure and retail space.
Brexit and other political and economic uncertainty has failed to derail activity. The North East commercial property market has remained stable these last nine months, and continues to strengthen.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) recently published positive results from its Q1 UK Commercial Property Market Survey, further supporting that both property professionals and businesses are set to benefit from the current market.
Despite the decision for the UK to leave the EU, RICS revealed that almost 90% of respondents in its commercial property survey reported they had seen no evidence of firms looking to relocate away from the UK in response to the Brexit vote. In fact, the report outlined that demand from overseas buyers continued to increase across all sectors throughout 2016, which we anticipate is set to continue.
We recently experienced the increasing interest in the North East property market from overseas investors during our work at the leading international property conference, MIPIM, in Cannes, earlier this year. Myself and other members of the Bradley Hall team attended as part of the Invest Newcastle group, joining representatives from one of our key business partners, Arch, to promote investment opportunities in the Northumberland and surrounding areas.
Thanks to a flying start, we see 2017 as another big year for all at Bradley Hall; as we continue to secure greater market share and present a strong property services brand to the region. We have already expanded our services this year, adding building surveying and a planning and design arm. Our expansion strategy will see us grow our team from 35 to around 50 people, which means we can look forward to taking on more projects as the market continues to grow.
