Riots Should Not Affect Property Investment in the UK

With the recent rioting in London and across England, a lobby group, British Property Federation (BPF), has announced that property investors should not let this week’s unsettled situation affect their decisions on investing in new developments.


Riots occurred in 28 town centres across England including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol. It is feared that investment into commercial properties, new homes in Birmingham and new homes in Bristol as well as other areas may not now be made due to the rioting in the commercial and retail areas.

Statistics produced by the Local Data Company showed that over 48,000 of the 476,000 retail outlets it tracks had either been directly or indirectly affected by the riots.

"Whilst it is still early days, we would very much hope that the property industry's ability and appetite for delivering much-needed and sustainable development in UK towns and cities will remain strong," Liz Peace, Chief Executive, BPF said. "The sort of assets that attract large-scale and overseas investment in commercial property are definitely still standing and are largely unaffected.”

During this year commercial and retail centres outside of London have seen extensive investment by global companies and wealth funds because of the attractive return and yield on investments.

However, industry experts have warned that property investors in new developments in Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester may not want to commit to investing money into property outside of London as well as in the Greater London urban areas because of the recent troubles. This will negatively affect these particular areas moreso because of the challenging current economic climate, empty shop premises and poor rent and capital values.

Retail and shopping landmarks affected and damaged by the riots include the Bullring in Birmingham and the Arndale Centre in Manchester.

Notes to Editors:
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