Scotland H1 hotel investment is ‘double’ whole of 2017
Investment into Scottish hotels in the first half of 2018 reached £389.6m, double the total annual investment volumes recorded in 2017 (£195m).
Investment was spread across 10 individual transactions and the components of seven portfolios, with the individual sales principally focused in the £1-10m price bracket, according to real estate advisor Savills. The Caledonian Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Edinburgh was the only transaction above this bracket, achieving a sale price of £85m.
UK buyers were the biggest buying group, accounting for 41% of activity, followed by Middle Eastern investors (22%), Israeli investors (16%), US investors (8%), Canadian investors (7%), Singaporean investors (5%) and German investors (1%). Collectively non-domestic investors continue to be the dominant player in the market.
Steven Fyfe, associate director at Savills Glasgow, said: “Investment volumes continue to build on the strong level of appetite we witnessed last year as we find ourselves already surpassing last year’s total annual volume at the half year point.”
Martin Rogers, head of UK hotel transactions at Savills, added: “This year has got off to a strong start, driven by several high profile portfolio transactions. Looking ahead we expect the market to remain active and predict the total for 2018 investment to reach around £5.4bn.
“The UK hotel market remains attractive to both domestic and overseas investors, providing something for everyone due to the range on offer from single regional hotels to trophy assets in London.”
