Northern hotels attract £1bn of investment in 2018

Hotels in the north of the UK attracted over £1bn of investment in 2018, with total investment in the region for the year reaching £1.11bn, according to real estate advisor Savills.

The north accounted for 17% of total UK hotel transactions last year, with total UK transactions hitting £6.6bn. The market in the north was led by portfolio transactions, accounting for 56% of deals (£630m), with individual transactions at 44% (£480m).

Despite current underlying uncertainty, portfolio investments proved to be attractive to both domestic and international investors with UK and Israeli investors leading the market share, followed by French, Canadian and Danish investors. Individual transactions were largely dominated by domestic investors, accounting for 54% of investment value, with an average transaction size of £8m.

The largest deal in the region last year was £118m for the 312-bed Midland Hotel in Manchester, equating to a price per key of £378,000. The average price per key for 2018 across the region was £100,000.

Tom Cunningham, director of hotels in the north, said: “2018 has been another strong year for investment levels in the north driven by several high profile portfolio transactions. Despite the underlying uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the northern hotel market remains attractive to both domestic and overseas investors due to the range of different assets available. As such, we expect 2019 to be another robust year.”