Scotland’s real estate sector bucked the trend of decline elsewhere in the UK in the first half of 2024 in terms of attracting investment, research has revealed.
And global property adviser JLL, publishing the research yesterday, highlighted a positive outlook in Scotland for investment in this sector, taking in commercial and industrial property and residential development, during the rest of this year and into 2025.
Investment in Scotland’s real estate sector increased “considerably” in the first six months of the year, in contrast to a sharp fall across the rest of the UK, the research by JLL shows.
The Scottish property market attracted £770 million of investment in the opening six months of 2024, a 4% increase on the average for the first halves of the previous 10 years and 30% higher than in the corresponding period of 2023.
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The research covers residential developments including student accommodation and retirement homes as well as commercial and industrial property.
JLL declared: “Scotland bucked the trend seen elsewhere across the UK.”
It observed the UK as a whole “saw a 25% dip in investment in the first six months of the year when compared to the 10-year average”.
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London saw a 46% fall in investment, JLL noted. However, it still outstripped other parts of the UK in terms of its total investment figure for the first half of around £3.5 billion.
The £770m figure for Scotland placed the nation fifth in the UK for real estate investment volumes in the first half. JLL flagged signs of “recovery” in the Scottish office market, and was upbeat about the outlook for deal flow this year and into 2025, flagging demand for property from UK institutions and private individuals as well as overseas investors.
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Calum Cowe, capital markets director at JLL, said: “While it’s not been the easiest start to the year from either a political or economic perspective, Scotland continues to show its attractiveness to investors. “With the recent interest-rate cut and growing optimism in the health of the wider economy, we expect to see healthy levels of deal activity in the Scottish market. Investment in the office sector in particular is beginning to show signs of recovery with a number of key deals taking place in both Glasgow and Edinburgh in the first six months of the year.”
Mr Cowe added: “We are also encouraged by the increasing depth of the buyer pool in Scotland. International investors have historically accounted for the lion’s share of volumes over the last few years in the market. However, we have also seen increasing appetite from UK institutions and private investors in the past 12 months. We are therefore optimistic that this improved deal flow will continue for the remainder of the year and into 2025.”
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