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The UK's hotel property investment market is busy as transaction volumes continue unabated, according to consultants Colliers International.
The latest Hotel Snapshot shows that the belief that the UK hotel market is stagnant is a fallacy. Julian Troup, head of UK Hotel Agency at Colliers International, said that he is cautiously optimistic that the volume of transactional activity will continue unabated.
'It is frustrating to hear commentators suggesting that there is a stagnant transactional market. We have continued to remain active and as a company have sold in excess of 200 hotels in the UK in the last couple of years,' he explained.
'We have been advising many prospective clients over the last few years who initially took the view that they would retain ownership and continue to trade throughout the challenging climate. However, we are now seeing evidence of owners recognising the fact that it will be many years before a boom period returns,' he said.
'We are therefore experiencing more owners speaking to us as a result of fatigue and the realisation on their part that there is still a reasonable stock of quality buyers out there. Bearing in mind the initial signs of a changing hotel market appeared at the end of 2007 we are now four years down the line and some owners simply want to sell up,' he added.
He also believes that a new type of buyer emerging. 'Rising unemployment has seen an increase to the flow of people appreciating the benefits of buying and running their own hotel or guest house,' he said.
'In addition to this group of potential buyers we are still in regular contact with many quality prospective buyers who are less concerned about the immediate return on investment and more focussed on the long term benefits and are prepared to reflect in the offers that they make. Fair value and in certain cases premium prices are still being achieved,' added Troup.
Resource Colliers International
