|
contents | business | |||||||||
| Overseas money continues to drive London hotel market as investment tops £1 billion Investment into London hotels in the first half of 2018 reached £1.1 billion, according to Savills, accounting for 33% of total investment into UK hotels (£3.2 billion), the largest proportion of any region. The real estate advisor says the total volume was made up of 11 single transactions and also assets that were disposed of as part of six portfolio sales. The capital's hotel market was driven by international investors according to the firm, with 62% of deal volume being from overseas capital which was mainly deployed though portfolio purchases. The majority (20% of total volumes) was Cypriot money involved in LRC Group's acquisition of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotels in Islington and Chelsea. Project Ribbon, a portfolio of UK Holiday Inns and Crowne Plazas, acquired by Vivion Capital meant that Israeli capital accounted for 19% of London's total hotel investment with key assets such as Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury and Holiday Inn Regents Park included. Key individual deals include the sale of RE London Shoreditch Hotel to Crosstree Real Estate Partners, the sale of Kings Cross Central Travelodge from Travelodge to a UK pension fund for £36.3 million and the acquisition of 5 Strand by ABIL Group for over £90 million. Seven of the 11 transactions in the capital were over £40 million according to Savills. Gary Witham, director in the hotels team at Savills, comments: "The London hotel market continues to provide an attractive investment option for overseas capital with the currency play supporting strong pricing. The city has a strong development pipeline balanced by high occupational demand. One potential headwind may be rising pressure on single asset operators who will have to cope with increasing wages and business rates as well as the need to refurbish their properties to stay relevant." write your comments about the article :: © 2018 Construction News :: home page |