Real estate investment trust Great Portland Estates said on Monday that it had achieved record leasing since the start of the financial year.
Great Portland Estates stated it signed 460,900 square feet of new lettings since the start of the financial year on 1 April 2021, generating a combined annual rent of £32.5m, with market lettings 9.8% ahead of March 2021’s estimated rental value, surpassing its previous record leasing high of £31.8m in 2016 with two months of the financial year still remaining.
The FTSE 250-listed firm stated that since 1 October, it had agreed to 17 new lettings across 102,100 square feet, generating annual rent of £5.5m, and that of the leases that completed, four were for its “Flex” spaces, with the most recent fully fitted and fully managed leases at Pollen House achieving a rent of £210 per square foot, while the largest transaction in the period was at Hanover Square, where it leased the final office at its Medici Courtyard asset to KKR on a co-terminus basis.
GPE added that rent collection for its December quarter was in line with the previous period and that it had extended the maturity date of £400.0m of its environmental, social, and governance-linked revolving credit facility by 12 months to January 2027.
Chief executive Toby Courtauld said: “It is a significant achievement to deliver record leasing in a period marked by such economic and social disruption, which is a testament to both the quality of the spaces we have been delivering and the dedication and hard work of the GPE team.
“Absent a resurgence of the pandemic, our confidence is building for the remainder of 2022, as we expect the combination of economic growth, a return to normal trading conditions and central London’s magnetic appeal to be positive for our markets.”
