Oil and Property

Historically London has had a lot of foreign investment, particularly from the Middle East and more recently from China. 75% of all office investment deals were completed by overseas investors in 2014. 

With oil prices falling by almost 60% between June 2014 and the start of 2015 you would think the Middle East’s global property investments would have slowed almost to a halt – this was not the case. Historically Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have maintained solid allocations of capital to global real estate during periods of low oil price. The Middle East’s appetite for London Real Estate during this worrying period highlights the worlds trust in our market. 

During 2009 global investments decreased across all markets as many global real estate investors returned home, but investment from the Middle East remained strong as they spent $4.5 billion in the last quarter in 2009.

Ollie Salter, a surveyor at Morgan Pryce believes “a lot of this invest comes from extremely wealthy individuals.” This is backed up by a report done by Jones Lang LaSalle which highlights the very high number of wealthy individuals in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. In the Middle East’s culture amongst the wealthy it is seen as a powerful status symbol to have an investment in one of London’s iconic buildings, which could be seen as a reason behind continued spending during economic downturn and low oil prices. 

This news was brought to you by Morgan Pryce, a specialist tenant acquisition agent with offices in Oxford Circus and the City. Morgan Pryce specialises in search, negotiation and project management and works exclusively for tenants.