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Major tech firms and financial institutions are expanding their presence in London even though many people thought there would be an exodus of companies after the UK decided to leave the European Union, reported the South China Morning Post.
For instance, Internet search giant Google will still proceed with its plans to construct a new headquarters in the country’s capital and hire about 3,000 new personnel.
Apple intends to occupy 500,000 sq ft of office space in the newly redeveloped Battersea Power Station, while Amazon plans to lease 600,000 sq ft of premises for its research and development centre. In addition, Facebook targets to grow its workforce by 50 percent.
Multinational bank Wells Fargo also paid about £300 million to acquire an 11-storey building near London Bridge that will serve as its new European headquarters.
Meanwhile, demand for London commercial properties remained strong in H1 2017 despite the Brexit vote, with investments buoyed by capital coming from mainland China and Hong Kong, which accounted for most of the transactions.
In July, the “Walkie Talkie” tower in the City of London was purchased by Hong Kong food conglomerate Lee Kum Kee for £1.3 billion, a record price for a single UK building.
Excluding this deal, investors from Hong Kong pumped in nearly £2.2 billion (HK$22.5 billion) into UK commercial real estate to date this year, a substantial increase from the corresponding period in 2016.
Furthermore, London is attracting strong interest from Singapore, Thailand and Germany, while Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund plans to invest about £5 billion in the UK for its next investment cycle.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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