News

The summer period is often a quiet time for commercial property transactions. Notably, this summer has seen commercial property transactions grinding to a halt as advisors and clients are taking their annual leave and many are continuing to work from home.

There are various commercial investment properties on the market currently. However, it is important to reflect on the wider economic situation and how this will shift in the remainder of the year, rather than just concentrated on the limited number of commercial property transactions over the holiday period.

In sectors like the hospitality and food retail sectors, there has been huge difficulty in finding staff.

Nevertheless, a positive that has come out of this period is the wages for those employed rising disproportionately in the catering and hospitality sectors, compared to other sectors of the economy.

Average weekly earnings in the UK in May 2021 have grown by 9.9 per cent, compared with the same month in 2020.

As well as wage inflation, the prices of numerous items have been increasing substantially too. There is a large shortage of products that include wood and timber.

Recent figures have shown that the consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation rose sharply to 2.1 per cent in May, with the Bank of England expecting it to increase to over three per cent for the rest of the year.

Despite this, the months April to July have passed off quietly and the EU has paused its legal action against the UK for alleged breaches to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

This standstill period aims to allow time for Northern Ireland’s politicians to amend the agreement to minimise the downside of the Irish Sea border and to also promote the fact that they have unfettered access to both the UK and Europe. This can be used to their advantage to bring much-needed jobs into Ireland.

Conclusively, the outlook for the remainder of the year is positive as we expect growth in all sectors of the commercial property market as we return to work.