NEW research has found that Scottish commercial property attracted more than £300 million of investment during the first quarter of 2025, in a ‘subdued’ start to the year.
Knight Frank’s analysis of Real Capital Analytics (RCA) data found there were £315 million-worth of deals between January and March, compared to the £475 million Q1 average for the past five years, as investors assessed the uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop.
However, the median since Q1, 2021 is skewed by a stand-out first quarter in 2022, when £900 million was transacted as a number of deals affected by the pandemic concluded. Excluding that figure, the four-year average was £369 million.
Offices accounted for their highest share of deals since 2021 at 36% (£112 million). Retail was just behind, accounting for 35% (£109 million), while hotels accounted for 24% (£76 million).
Private investors were the most active buyers of Scottish commercial property, with 42% of investment volumes. International buyers represented 37%, while real estate investment trusts (REITs) and listed property companies accounted for 18%.
Alasdair Steele, head of Scotland commercial at Knight Frank, said, “The market has been resilient, but the strong news flow at the start of the year has inevitably had an effect on investors’ decision-making. Given the events of the last few weeks, it seems likely that the uncertain backdrop will continue into the second quarter, which may make for another challenging few months.
“Nevertheless, there are some bright spots in these figures. More interest in offices, after a challenging couple of years, suggests that the green shoots we saw in the sector last year are taking hold. At the same time, private investors being so active demonstrates there is an active pool of buyers beyond the international investors that dominated the market in the late 2010s.
“The recent volatility in equity markets underlines the enduring attraction of commercial property as an alternative investment – particularly in the UK, which provides a relative safe haven in the current environment. Within that, Scotland offers good value over many other parts of the UK and, with the country aligned to a number of growth areas such as the energy transition, there are good reasons to be optimistic long term.”
