The value of commercial property deals in Scotland surged above £2billion in 2024, up more than 30% on the previous year.
An analysis by Knight Frank said there were £2.03billion worth of transactions across the year. That was ahead of the £1.5billion booked in 2023 and up on the five-year average of £1.9billion.
Yesterday it emerged that three prominent Aberdeen offices were among the late surge in deals which pushed the 2024 figure to an unexpected high.
The CNOOC, Apache and Taqa buildings at the Prime Four business park in Kingswells have been acquired by EEH Ventures. The trio of buildings, totalling 275,000 sq ft, were previously owned by Canadian firm BMO.
The deal was the largest to take place throughout Scotland during the last quarter of 2024.
London headquartered EEH Ventures was founded in 2013 and owns a number of residential, offices, shopping centres and hotels throughout the UK.
All three Kingswells-based buildings were pre-let, designed and constructed by Aberdeen property developer Drum in 2012 on a 15-year lease.
The Prime Four acquisition wasn’t the biggest Granite City commercial property sale of 2024. American private equity firm Lone Star bought Union Square shopping centre from Hammerson for £111million.
Alasdair Steele, the head of commercial in Scotland at Knight Frank, said: “The first half of 2024 got off to a slow start, with the election putting a pause in activity during the second quarter.
“But since June there has been a noticeable upturn in deal activity, helped by a clearer idea of what the next five years look like in terms of policy direction and interest rates on a downward trend, combined with political upheaval elsewhere.
“The pool of buyers for Scottish commercial property has also got deeper, and there is good reason to believe that will continue to be the case in 2025 too.”