February 19, 2019 | less than a minute read

High Street and Shopping Centre investment in 2019

Get in touch

Chris Xitsas

Partner, Commercial real estate

Get in touch

Chris Xitsas

Partner, Commercial real estate

This market commentary published by Savills made for an enjoyable read. The report summarises what we saw happen in the sector during 2018 and echoes the outlook many of our clients hold for 2019 - one which is realistic (taking account of the general re-pricing in the sector), but also quite positive in that opportunities are expected (especially towards the end of the year). A few points to summarise for you from the report:

- investors will be continuing (rightly) to look at covenant strength and what rent tenants can afford

- prime yields are expected to stabilise towards end of 2019 as right pricing is reached

- more stock expected as loans are pushed to LTV breaches and banks will likely be unwilling to refinance debt

- the below quote:

We do expect that investors will be viewing the prospects for retail property more rationally by the second half of 2019, and this combined with a degree of opportunism will mean that along with councils and the established buyers, assets small and large are likely to be snapped up by the new money that continues to be raised for deployment in a sector that will become increasingly appealing to investors drawn by the significant discounts to long-term pricing in both absolute and relative terms that are starting to emerge.