The Property Ticker GPE fully pre-lets 30 Duke Street St James’s, SW1; How office rents are climbing again; Aberdeen Investments puts £75m worth of regional homes on the block … and more

Research evidence excerpt

The Property Ticker GPE fully pre-lets 30 Duke Street St James’s, SW1; How office rents are climbing again; Aberdeen Investments puts £75m worth of regional homes on the block … and more

imbing again: Office asking rents have seen only modest

nominal growth since early 2020 (~7%), while real effective rents have declined

significantly against ~30% inflation. Overall performance has been weak, even for

higher-quality 4- and 5-star assets, which have delivered sub-4% cumulative growth.

However, this headline masks widening divergence across the market.Demand has

increasingly concentrated in premium, well-located buildings, driving sharp rent growth

and tightening availability in “trophy” and highly amenitized submarkets. This has led

to a K-shaped recovery, where top-tier assets in transit-oriented or prime locations are

seeing rents grow at or above inflation and in some cases reaching full occupancy, while

lower-quality, high-vacancy buildings continue to lag materially.Supportively, a lack of

new supply is tightening market conditions and beginning to ease pressure on effective

rents as concessions peak and start to reverse in some markets. Landlords with capital and

competitive space - especially those offering move-in-ready spec suites - are capturing

demand, while financially weaker owners face rising pressure. Looking ahead,

constrained supply should underpin broader rent growth, though elevated concessions

and tenant selectivity remain key dynamics. (Source: CoStar)

• Dominus sells Oxford Courtyard by Marriott hotel for £74 million: Dominus has sold

the 160-room Courtyard by Marriott Oxford City Centre to Millemont Capital Partners

for £74m, marking what it claims is the largest single-asset urban hotel deal outside

London this year.