Aberdeen commercial property sales surge to three-year high

The value of commercial property transactions in Aberdeen reached £201million in the second quarter of 2015, a three-year high for the Granite City.

Figures from the Registers of Scotland, analysed by the Scottish Property Federation (SPF), show that in Aberdeen, three transactions alone were worth £178 million, one of which was suggested to be the final registration of Legal & General’s purchase of the 335,000 sq ft headquarters of oil company Aker Solutions for £127 million.

Edinburgh also enjoyed a strong quarter, returning the highest value of sales in Scotland in the quarter, worth £231 million.

The figures reveal that across Scotland, the value of commercial property sales increased by 56.6 per cent from Q1 2015, to £963 million.

The SPF has speculated that this surge could be attributed to a slowdown in investor confidence at the beginning of the year in the run-up to the UK General Election in May.

The volume of sales in Scotland also increased, from 854 in Q1 2015 to 956 in Q2, an increase of 11 per cent. There was a particular increase in higher value transactions (those over £5million), which rose from 23 in Q1 to 34 in Q2.

The growing number of transactions and high value of sales suggests that Scotland’s commercial property market is becoming more stable.

David Melhuish, director of the Scottish Property Federation, said: “Whilst the general economic commentary surrounding Aberdeen has focused on the impact of falling oil prices, it is striking to see that its commercial property market is going against the grain and retaining significant investment.

“Aside from the dip in value that we saw in the last quarter, which could well be attributed to pre-election uncertainty, figures over the past year show that Scotland’s commercial property market as a whole is growing in strength and value. This is reflective of wider economic commentaries which have reported a growth in business confidence in Scotland.”