An award-winning commercial property specialist says the market is starting to show the first signs of recovery from the coronavirus lockdown – and revealed it still clinched millions of pounds of deals while the country was shut down.
Coventry-based Bromwich Hardy reveals the figures in its new 2020 Lockdown Barometer and says it is seeing the first green shoots of activity across the region as restrictions start to ease.
Founding partner Tom Bromwich said the commercial market remained challenging but that the firm had seen an increase in interest in recent days building on the deals it had been able to secure during the lockdown itself.
“We have been very fortunate to have been able to continue to do deals during the lockdown even though the commercial sector was almost brought to a standstill,” said Tom.
“Our team secured more than £2million of sales with another £7million of deals awaiting completion and also signed off on nearly £1million of rental deals, with a further £433,000 in the pipeline.
“We also secured nearly £2million of new business sales and £734,000 of lettings and were still carrying out valuations, rent reviews and lease renewals despite the restrictions. More than half our lockdown work was in the industrial sector, with offices making up a further 19 per cent.
“But unsurprisingly the retail sector slowed down quite considerably, though we are now starting to see things very slowly starting to move again as the restrictions begin to be lifted.
‘It’s fair to say that the first green shoots are now starting to show themselves – but it remains tough and we suspect will continue to be so for some time yet.
“We were also really pleased that we did not have to furlough any of our staff despite the difficult conditions. That’s a real testament to their superb contacts in the industry and the regard in which they are held in each of their sectors.”
The new Lockdown Barometer gives a comprehensive overview of the company’s work in the last three months and some key insights into the state of the commercial property market as the recovery begins.
Tom said the firm had introduced a pioneering virtual viewing system called Matterport before the lockdown was imposed and that had helped it continue to successfully market properties when physical site visits were impossible.
“Our decision to invest in the Matterport system last year has really paid off and helped us maintain a level of business which otherwise might not have been possible,” Tom added.