Bigger is not necessarily better!

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on March 12, 2010
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The Technology Studio has released the results of its survey of more than 100 significant players in the online commercial property marketing sector, demonstrating that success depends not only on getting as many of the right people as possible to visit a site, but also on making it as easy as possible for them to find what they are looking for.

NovaLoca does well on both counts, with analysis using Websitegrader.com placing NovaLoca top in the portal category for marketing effectiveness and Google page rank. It also appears in the Top 10 sites for UK web traffic using Alexa.com data. Combining all these factors, NovaLoca has demonstrated that bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to providing the most effective and easy-to-use service for users – it comes in at number 3 in the list of the Top 100 UK Commercial Property Websites, and is the highest-placed portal in the list.

You can find out more details of the survey or simply contact Chris on 01767 313 380 for more information on how NovaLoca can help you.

How to make Street View work best for you

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on March 12, 2010
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If you are excited by the possibilities of using Google Street View to display your commercial properties for sale and to let on NovaLoca, we have a tip for you!

Simply go into the “Edit” section of each property listed online and give the exact location of your property. This is more accurate than a postcode and will give occupiers a more precise view of your property.

We are also looking into improving the Street View service even further, by giving you the ability to set up and point the Street View camera in the right direction for your property. Watch this space…

More Great Google Street View Images – Now Live on NovaLoca

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on March 12, 2010
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Here are some of the many fantastic Street View images available with Street View - now live on NovaLoca. 

Segro HQ - Slough


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BNP Paribas - Southampton


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Pheonix Beard – Birmingham


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Track to NovaLoca HQ - Bedfordshire


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LATEST NEWS: NovaLoca release superb Nationwide Google Street View in property details pages

Published
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on March 11, 2010
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NovaLoca does it again – we are the first UK commercial property site to release Street View nationwide. After managing to beat Google to release the first Street View images in the UK, we are now the first to release nationwide Google Street View images in our property details pages.

Released by Google only this morning, our developers were on the ball and it went live on our site at 4:45pm today.

The images speak for themselves – covering 99% of the country. Have fun! Here, to set you off, are the surroundings of NovaLoca HQ…

To find Street View in your property pages, scroll down to “Property Location”, then “Click to view Street View”.

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Take advantage of office market conditions!

Published
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vencut
on March 11, 2010
in Business Owners & Property Buyers and Office
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As recently noted by DTZ, office property remains a tenants’ market. Occupiers face the widest choice and the most attractive rents and incentives for years, the latest report on the UK office property market from King Sturge says, but signs of recovery suggest that this may not last for long. So if you are seeking office space to buy or rent then contact Chris at NovaLoca on 01767 313 380 to find out how we can help you take advantage of the current conditions, before they worsen!

King Sturge says in its 10th annual UK offices report that recovery this year is likely to be uneven. The downturn in the market for office space to let and for sale is likely to be less deep and prolonged than during the recession of the early 1990s, King Sturge says, but while central London offices look set to recover this year, some regional centres will be lagging well behind.

The performance gap between the capital and the rest of the country will widen in the upturn, with central London experiencing the earliest reversal of fortunes and leading the office market in 2010, driven by the financial sector, King Sturge says. But outside London, demand will remain under pressure, with these markets more exposed to the public-sector squeeze.

The worst of the fall in office rents is over, the report declares, although London is likely to be the only market to see prime rental growth in 2010. It will be several years before recent declines (of -35% on average) are reversed, and in the regions, where the correction has been milder (at -10%), growth will take longer to return.

Development activity jumps in February

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on March 10, 2010
in Agents, Business Owners & Property Buyers, Industrial, Industry News and Office
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The rate of expansion by commercial developers in February was the fastest seen since May 2007, according to a survey by Savills. The report says that commercial developers signalled an overall increase in development activity during February, partly due to a rebound from weather-related weakness in January, but also as a result of better economic conditions. Most of the growth in activity related to development taking place in the private sector rather than the public sector, Savills says.

Savills says that about 28% of the respondents to its survey indicated a rise in total commercial activity in February, compared with 11% reporting a decline. As a result, the group’s Total Commercial Development Activity Index was a positive 16.9% for February, following a reading of minus 2.4% for January.

Respondents were positive about the outlook for commercial development activity in the next quarter, although business sentiment was slightly weaker than the long-run series average, and the lowest since July 2009. Developers were most confident about the outlook for industrial and warehouse projects, and the least positive about prospects for office developments. Growth expectations were linked to improving client demand for commercial property for sale and to let, although some firms noted that the upcoming general election had created some uncertainty about public-sector projects, Savills noted.

Shop vacancies on the rise

Published
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on March 9, 2010
in Agents, Business Owners & Property Buyers and Retail
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Cushman & Wakefield reports that more than 10% of UK shops are now available to let or vacant, with sharp differences between regions.

As of February 1, the company’s Retail Availability survey shows 10.7% vacancies overall, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter, when temporary lettings before Christmas boosted the results. However, this latest figure is well below the August 2009 peak of 12.6%.

London remains the most polarised regional market, with availability in the centre of the capital at 7.9% while the suburbs recorded the highest regional figure, at 17.4%. Outer London now has the highest percentage of shop units linked to administration at 5.75%, an increase of 0.4% points in the past three months. Many regional centres in outer London have also been affected by the opening of Westfield London and the expansion and improved retail offering of Brent Cross, Cushman & Wakefield notes.

While prime, high-profile shopping streets in Central London appear immune from the pressures seen elsewhere, more secondary areas continue to suffer. Cushman & Wakefield describes this as a “flight to quality and dominance”.

Overall, the Midlands has seen the highest increase in availability, rising 1.7 points to now stand at 12.1%. Birmingham still has the highest availability in the region, with Nottingham the lowest at 8.7%. This region does, however, have among the lowest vacancy rates in the UK linked to retailer administrations, which Cushman & Wakefield says is evidence that it has now seen the worst impact of the recession on its central retail area.

Liberty to demerge malls operations

Published
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vencut
on March 9, 2010
in Industry News and Retail
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Liberty International, the UK’s largest shopping centre operator, has announced plans to separate its retail operations from the rest of its commercial property business, with both companies to trade on the London Stock Exchange.

The group says the move will improve shareholder value. Chairman Patrick Burgess said the demerger was in response “to what the Liberty International board considers to be a changing approach to investment in real estate, both in the equity markets and in the property market, requiring greater focus and more active management.”

The demerger will put CEO David Fischel in charge of the Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSC) with a £5bn portfolio, while Ian Hawksworth will head the Capital & Counties Properties (C&C) group with a portfolio of £1.24bn. CSC will remain a tax-efficient REIT while C&C, which will be mainly focused on Central London, will be a non-REIT property company. The split is expected to take place in May after a shareholders’ meeting in April.

Liberty International today reported weaker than expected results for 2009 with NAV falling to 464p per share at the end of December last year, from 745p a year earlier. The recession has hit the retail sector hard and this is the group’s key tenant base. Underlying earnings excluding valuations declined to £91m from £105m a year earlier.

New REIT for UK as opportunities grow

Published
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on March 8, 2010
in Industry News and Retail
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Andrew Jones, who previously ran the £5bn retail property portfolio at British Land, is heading up a new company called Metric Property that has plans to float on the London Stock Exchange in a £150m IPO.

Metric Property is hoping to take advantage of the downturn in retail property values in the UK and says its plans have attracted strong interest.

Jones will be working alongside Valentine Beresford and Mark Stirling, who were also previously at British Land. He said he is currently seeing a lot more opportunities for acquisitions than at the end of 2009, and added that the pressures of refinancing had “turned reluctant vendors into motivated ones”.

FSA chairman calls for property loan restrictions

Published
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on March 5, 2010
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Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, this week told a parliamentary committee that a crackdown on commercial property lending is needed. He said that more work needed to be done to increase loan rates or tighten borrowing terms, to ensure that money flows into more “useful” sectors.

He said: “A quite startling percentage of UK credit extension to the non-financial corporate sector in the last 20 years has been to commercial real estate.”

“Although some of that new urban development, new office development, new retail development is part of the value-creative process of society, some of it is not to do with new investment but is simply leveraging of assets to take advantage of the tax deductibility of interest payments,” he added.

Adair TurnerTurner said that in contrast to property, sectors such as manufacturing accounted for as much in deposits to UK banks as they took out in loans.

The Economist commented that Turner has been outspoken about the need for banking reforms following the credit crunch, and noted that the commercial property sector together with home loans attracts 80% of all bank loans to non-financial borrowers in Britain. In future, banks might face differential capital charges depending on which sector they lend to, in the hope of channelling cash into sectors that promise steadier growth. This is not a new measure: Indian, Canadian and Hong Kong regulators do it already, The Economist notes.

But Turner has stopped short of calling for more radical measures, it points out, and if the opposition Conservative Party wins the forthcoming general election it has pledged to return banking supervision to the Bank of England, leaving the FSA heavily circumscribed.