Northern Ireland’s status as a gateway between the UK and EU is expected to draw investors to commercial property here during 2022, agents have said.
ommercial property firm CBRE said investors spent nearly £290m on snapping up big properties like shopping centres and offices here in 2021.
That had been the biggest spend since 2017, CBRE said.
The biggest deal of the year had been the sale of the new-build Merchant Square office building on Wellington Place in Belfast to a Saudi Arabia fund for £87m. The block is occupied by business advisory firm PwC.
In other big-money deals, Balloo Retail Park in Bangor was sold to Supermarket Income REIT for £24.8m, while Shane Retail Park in Belfast, fetched £23m when it was sold to DS Properties.
And Ballymena’s Fairhill Shopping Centre was sold to Magell after it was listed for sale at £10m. That was a fraction of the £46.5m which Rockspring Property Investment Managers bought it for in 2015.
Shopping centres like Fairhill have been hit in recent years by high-profile retail collapses, such as the administration of Topshop parent group Arcadia in 2020.
CBRE said offices accounted for 43% of the overall spend during 2021, while retail made up 40%.
And institutional investors, such as the Saudi fund, claimed the biggest proportion of deals at 38%. Investors in Northern Ireland, such as Magell, claimed one third, property companies over 15% and real estate investment trusts around 14%.
Gavin Elliott, senior director at CBRE NI, said: “Northern Ireland has an attractive real estate yield advantage when compared with Great Britain and Republic of Ireland, and we expect to see strong investor appetite in Northern Ireland continue into 2022, largely due to our unique location as a gateway between the UK and EU.
“Traditional core assets such as retail warehousing and well-leased prime offices will continue to attract suitable buyers, but we also expect to see investors targeting the alternative sectors such as build-to-rent, healthcare and logistics or ‘beds, meds and sheds’, which will bode well for Northern Ireland.”
