While investment volumes in Scotland’s real estate sector during Q2 only reached £370 million, the full H1 total of £930m is 20% ahead of the corresponding 2024 figure, the latest Scotland Snapshot from Colliers has revealed.
The £370m invested in Q2 was down on the Q1 figure of £560m, and 22% below the five-year quarterly average of £470m. Retail led the pack with £150m of deals taking place in the second quarter, up from the £40m transacted in Q1. This was boosted by the sale of the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow for c. £50m. A total of seven transactions took place over the quarter with an average lot size of £22m.
Douglas McPhail, head of Colliers Scotland, said: “Scotland isn’t immune to the geopolitical and economic uncertainty affecting the whole of the UK commercial property market. While there were some stand out deals this quarter, the sense of momentum hasn’t yet returned to the market as a whole. Encouragingly, when looking across the first two quarters, volumes are still ahead of 2024 levels, hopefully pointing to a stronger full year total.”
Offices accounted for £100m of investment, the weakest quarterly total for over a year. The largest deal was the £75m sale of Capital Square to Pontegadea. Across the first half of the year investment into the sector totalled £230m, 14% above the corresponding figure for H1 2024.
Industrial investment in Scotland remained muted in Q2, with under £30m transacted, in line with activity in Q1 but 69% below the five-year quarterly average of £80m. The largest Q2 deal by value was the £14m sale of Unit 2 at Kirkhill Commercial Park in Aberdeen.
