The year has been heralded as one in which investor confidence in property will return in earnest. Rural property peers have pointed to the ‘froth’ skimming off premium agricultural land values this year as property-minded investors return with more confidence to the more obvious residential and commercial sectors for the first time post-credit crunch.
But, in the commercial sector, it’s by no means the wholesale return of investor confidence in any commercial property opportunity and the smartest money is always ahead of the game in the smartest of locations.
Last summer, Cambridge greeted the news that Tesco Pension fund is backing developer Brookgate’s 65,000 sq ft Grade A building which is at the heart of the cb1 scheme. But this five storey building was already pre-let and pre-let in Cambridge is always going to be a sure-bet.
In places like Cambridge, where there are limited opportunities in a smattering of its remaining key strategic locations, funders have been prepared to invest on very specific terms for the past three years. The terms usually involve pre-let agreements, more often than not with blue-chip companies and with certainty of long term leases.
Given the limited and ever diminishing supply of commercial sites with viable opportunities in Cambridge, those which exist are big ticket items and so it’s the cream of the funders who are attracted here.
With forecasts that the development pipeline will be reduced by more than 25 per cent by the end of this year, there’s concern about future opportunities for commercial property investments.
Investors like to look ahead and stay ahead but it’s getting more and more difficult to point to the next tranche of Cambridge sites looking for funding. Land which is supposed to see the city through to 2030 is already coming in to the calculations and commercial allocation.
With so much current building activity in Cambridge, it’s difficult to convince a lay audience that there’s a paucity of sites in supply on the near horizon but it’s one we will have to face – and soon.
The year 2014 is going to be a big one for those with development and property interests here.
This year sees Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Local Plans firming up with the identification of residential and commercial site allocations to take the area through the next couple of decades.
At the end of this month and in the early days of February, we welcome in the Chinese Year of the Horse. People born in years of the horse are believed to be active and energetic and, work wise, they refuse to give in to failure but, add the astrologers, ‘their endeavour cannot last indefinitely’.
In a twelve year zodiac cycle, the next year of the horse in 2026 - property investment funds are already backing Cambridge sites that are four years in front of that horse.
But, in the commercial sector, it’s by no means the wholesale return of investor confidence in any commercial property opportunity and the smartest money is always ahead of the game in the smartest of locations.
Last summer, Cambridge greeted the news that Tesco Pension fund is backing developer Brookgate’s 65,000 sq ft Grade A building which is at the heart of the cb1 scheme. But this five storey building was already pre-let and pre-let in Cambridge is always going to be a sure-bet.
In places like Cambridge, where there are limited opportunities in a smattering of its remaining key strategic locations, funders have been prepared to invest on very specific terms for the past three years. The terms usually involve pre-let agreements, more often than not with blue-chip companies and with certainty of long term leases.
Given the limited and ever diminishing supply of commercial sites with viable opportunities in Cambridge, those which exist are big ticket items and so it’s the cream of the funders who are attracted here.
With forecasts that the development pipeline will be reduced by more than 25 per cent by the end of this year, there’s concern about future opportunities for commercial property investments.
Investors like to look ahead and stay ahead but it’s getting more and more difficult to point to the next tranche of Cambridge sites looking for funding. Land which is supposed to see the city through to 2030 is already coming in to the calculations and commercial allocation.
With so much current building activity in Cambridge, it’s difficult to convince a lay audience that there’s a paucity of sites in supply on the near horizon but it’s one we will have to face – and soon.
The year 2014 is going to be a big one for those with development and property interests here.
This year sees Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Local Plans firming up with the identification of residential and commercial site allocations to take the area through the next couple of decades.
At the end of this month and in the early days of February, we welcome in the Chinese Year of the Horse. People born in years of the horse are believed to be active and energetic and, work wise, they refuse to give in to failure but, add the astrologers, ‘their endeavour cannot last indefinitely’.
In a twelve year zodiac cycle, the next year of the horse in 2026 - property investment funds are already backing Cambridge sites that are four years in front of that horse.
Will Mooney MRICS
Partner
Commercial, Cambridge
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