Record rent set in Canary Wharf's residential market
Financial services will be at the centre of Brexit negotiations when formal talks between the UK and EU start later this month.
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The triggering of Article 50 comes as the banking sector is already dealing with the twin issues of ultra-low interest rates and tighter regulation.
The industry plays a key role driving demand in the prime London property market and there have been suggestions some jobs could transfer to other European cities depending on the outcome of Brexit talks. However, based on an analysis of data from Knight Frank’s Canary Wharf office, demand among financial services tenants in London remains strong.
About 80% of registered tenants work in financial services, according to Christopher Paxton, head of lettings at Knight Frank’s Canary Wharf office, which primarily covers the E14 and E16 postcode areas.
“In the two months after Brexit, the fear factor meant tenant searches slowed down, people held back on putting reservation money down and the relocation agents went quiet,” he said. “That started to change at the end of the summer. Brexit became a less frequent topic of conversation and banks seemed to get more confident about the longer-term future.”
Knight Frank agreed 18.5% more tenancies in the second half of 2016 than in the same period in 2015 and demand has remained strong at the start of 2017. There were more viewings in January 2017 than the same month last year and Knight Frank agreed more tenancies in Canary Wharf in January 2017 than the same month in any other year.
Furthermore, a new record was set for the Canary Wharf long-let market in January 2017, when Knight Frank agreed a lettings deal on a 3,390 square-foot 38th floor sub-penthouse apartment in the Pan Peninsula development, with an achieved rent in the region of £4,500 per week.