Top sales and leases recognised in the UK

The third quarter of 2025 has shown clear signs of better health in many UK commercial real estate investment and leasing markets which has fed into a string of standout deals being recognised in CoStar's Quarterly Agency Awards.

UK property investment remained muted at £8.8 billion in the quarter, matching the second quarter’s two-year low, according to Lambert Smith Hampton's latest UK Investment Transactions report. But LSH says market activity has been tempered by uncertainty surrounding the government's forthcoming Budget, and it is expecting multiple large transactions to complete in the final quarter.

By mid-October, Savills was feeling confident enough to call the UK commercial real estate investment market for 2025, saying combined volumes for the office and industrial sectors this year will exceed 2024’s. As of the end of September, it had tracked £7 billion and £6.2 billion of investment deals in the industrial and office sectors respectively, against 2024 full-year volumes of approximately £10.8 billion and £9.9 billion. Adding in the volume of assets it has as under offer or at an advanced legal stage, it anticipates the final quarter will see last year's numbers surpassed.

That still does not translate to a bumper year, and it would be wrong to suggest it is not a tough market for deal-making – "constipated" was the word CREFC Europe's Peter Cosmetatos used to describe it alongside the recent publication of the Bayes UK commercial real estate lending report. But there are a number of reasons to feel more optimistic about activity.

Across the UK, Savills says the prime average yield remained unchanged in September, at 5.75%, for its seventh month but yields in 10 sub-sectors have remained stable for over a year, and four sub-sectors – offices in the City of London, leisure parks, food stores and London core leased hotels — have all seen downwards pressure on yields.

At a sector level, there are clear strong performers, notably in the living sector and hotels. UK build-to-rent has seen £3 billion in investment in the first nine months of 2025 across multifamily, single family and coliving, reports Knight Frank. It says over £850 million was invested into the sector in the third quarter, a 35% year-on-year increase.

In big-box logistics investment, DTRE reports the UK market "held firm" in the third quarter, with £1.75 billion transacted, broadly in line with the three-year quarterly average.

Sectors such as Greater London and South East offices were tougher. Knight Frank said the third quarter saw £291 million of assets traded, while there is £252 million of investment deals under offer, and another £1 billion of assets on the market. It adds the figures are lower than the long-term average, due to an absence of forced disposals, but sellers are returning.

In contrast, in Scotland a number of standout office transactions helped lift third quarter investment volumes to 12% above the five-year average, according to Lismore Real Estate Advisors.

Occupier-wise, there continues to be good activity in many areas, particularly at the prime end, proving the fundamentals remain strong.

In industrial, retailers remained the dominant taker of big-box industrial units in the third quarter, according to DTRE, which said the sector enjoyed its second strongest quarter since the beginning of 2023. Deals for warehouses of more than 100,000 square feet or larger reached 8.3 million squeals in the third quarter across 31 transactions, a 9% year-on-year increase.

BNP Paribas Real Estate is predicting the best year's take-up since 2021 for Greater London and South East offices due to a cleaning out of "the grunge at the bottom end of the market" via repurposing. It suggests final year take-up should be at the 2.6 million square feet level.

More importantly, a visit to the recent Expo Real conference in Munich found investors now feel while long-favoured areas such as living, industrial and alternatives are still top of mind, they are in danger of being a little too competitive and over-invested. The increasingly resilient office and retail sectors therefore provide compelling opportunities.

Greykite swoops to make real name for itself in UK industrial

Logicor's sale of eight industrial assets – the so-called Aurora portfolio – to Greykite for £245 million cemented the latter's reputation as a major new player in the UK.

The real estate investment firm, via its Greykite European Real Estate Fund, has bought the assets on behalf of its new Silverdock European Logistics platform. It has enlisted well-known UK industrial developer and asset manager Canmoor as on-site operating partner. The largest single asset is GXO Sherburn 667 outside Leeds. The other assets are in Sherburn, Birmingham, Bristol and County Durham.

The assets bought for Silverdock follow last year’s 13-asset pan-European portfolio acquisition from Logicor. It means the platform has £674 million of assets under management, including a four assets bought from Hines for around £80 million.

DTRE advised Logicor.

Accenture decides Fenchurch Street remains home

Global professional services firm Accenture’s decision to extend its lease agreement at its London headquarters at 30 Fenchurch Street, EC3 was one of a number of major regears in the quarter.

The group was one of a host of large corporates that had been in the market getting landlords excited as they looked for space, only to decide to stay put. Other examples include Bank of America, EY, Gallaghers, Mishcon de Reya and Nomura. Typically they have signed on short-term leases as they continue to weigh longer-term options.

Accenture's new lease will see the firm stay in 254,376 square feet on floors three to seven until 2033.

Newmark advised the landlord, Canadian investment giant Brookfield, while CBRE advised Accenture.

Prologis to deliver 'not just any' industrial hub with Marks and Spencer

Marks & Spencer, a major retailer and regular winner of top retail lease in the CoStar Agency awards, committed to one of the UK's largest-ever industrial hubs when it joined forces with global giant Prologis to develop a circa 1.3 million-square-foot national distribution centre in Daventry.

The agreement is a critical part of a much-publicised drive to future-proof its retail business and UK logistics.

Announcing plans for the development, at Prologis's Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal, the retailer said it will invest £340 million into its food supply chain, centred around the automated facility at the Northamptonshire site that will help double the size of its food business.

Savills and JLL advised Prologis, while M&S was advised by LSH.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield pounces on artistic replacement for KidZania

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield signed Bristol group Wake the Tiger for what it is describing as Europe’s "largest immersive art experience" at the Westfield London in Shepherd's Bush in July.

The former 80,000-square-foot KidZania leisure anchor unit at the mall is to be redeveloped as an entertainment venue that would be used for "mass-scale storytelling", with the exhibition exploring themes of sustainability, community and connection.

It adds to a string of a leisure tenants added in recent years to Europe's largest mall including Toca Social, City Bouldering, Puttshack and All Star Lanes.

Davis Coffer Lyons represented Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield while Stephen Kane & Company represented the tenant.