Christopher St James: Retail lettings and Residential development site news.
Article by Chris Jones, Director at Christopher St James.
At Christopher St James, the recent period has been particularly active across our retail letting instructions, especially within established secondary parades, alongside selected High Street opportunities.
We have seen sustained demand from a broad mix of independent occupiers, service businesses and operators seeking well-positioned premises at sensible occupational costs.
In many locations, secondary parades are proving resilient. They benefit from convenience, regular local footfall and nearby housing, while their occupier base is often more focused on affordability and trading potential than on a headline High Street presence. Where landlords are realistic on rent, lease terms and incentives, activity remains encouraging.
The most successful lettings are generally those where properties are properly presented, priced in line with current market evidence and offered with sufficient flexibility to reflect the way occupiers now make decisions.
Alongside this retail activity, we have made a conscious decision to reduce the attention given to residential development-site instructions. This has not been because buyer demand has disappeared. We continue to see genuine interest from developers, land promoters and private buyers, and we have continued to transact on land. Rather, it reflects the fact that too many opportunities were becoming unnecessarily difficult to convert into completed sales.
In a number of cases, planning uncertainty remained a significant issue. In others, there was a widening gap between a seller’s expectation of value and the price a buyer could justify once build costs, finance, affordable-housing requirements, planning risk and anticipated sales values had all been considered.
These conversations can be lengthy and resource-intensive, particularly where the underlying assumptions are no longer aligned with current market conditions.
That said, we believe the market is beginning to offer a more practical platform for development land. Enough time has now passed for buyers to assess opportunities against more realistic assumptions. Sites now coming forward should, in many cases, have been acquired at a level that allows them to be marketed at sensible, deliverable prices.
There remains a good depth of demand for the right opportunities. Buyers are selective and are undertaking more detailed due diligence than in previous cycles, but they are still prepared to move where planning prospects are credible, the development proposition is clear and pricing properly reflects the risks involved.
For the remainder of the year, we expect the market to continue rewarding realism. In retail, that means landlords being commercially minded and responsive to occupier requirements. In development land, it means bringing forward sites with clear information, realistic pricing and a proper appreciation of the viability challenges buyers must work through.
The common factor is clear: well-advised, sensibly priced stock continues to attract interest and, importantly, complete.
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