Birmingham rents lagging, says DTZ
Birmingham’s retail rent market is “lagging behind” other cities, according to property expert DTZ. The real estate company said it expects rents to drop by about 6 per cent this year, before resuming modest growth.
According to DTZ’s fair value index, retail rents in Birmingham will lag behind those of other major cities such as Glasgow, Manchester and London’s West End.
DTZ says the fair value index offers investors insight into the “relative attractiveness” of current pricing in global commercial property markets.
The index gives a score to denote whether a region’s property market is "hot" or "cold".
The report said that many UK commercial property markets are over-priced, as a DTZ Fair Value Index score of 38 was issued for the second quarter of 2010. The index rose from 33 in the first quarter.
Eight markets were classified as cold in the second quarter, and only three markets were classified as hot.
Nick Allan, head of investment at DTZ in Birmingham, said: “This research shows that the rapid bounce back in values that followed the unprecedented fall in markets in 2008 has now run its course and investors can no longer be assured of above average returns by simply buying stock.
"That said, property is a very heterogeneous asset class and with proper stock picking it is perfectly possible to do ‘hot deals’ in technically ‘cold markets’.”
