South East office investment activity has seen a strong recovery in 2025, from a subdued previous 2 years. The total traded in 2025 was £2.4bn, up 61% on 2024 and in line with the 5-year average.
This increase was driven by two significant transactions in Q4, an £890m acquisition of part of Oxford Science Park by the Ellison Institute of Technology and a £250m acquisition of the McLaren Technology Centre by a Private Overseas Investor. Aside from this, 2025 saw a slow start to the year, with only around £524m completing in H1. However, despite uncertainty surrounding the Autumn Budget, activity improved in the second half of the year, amounting to £1.91bn being transacted.
Deal times were protracted and marketing periods extended as the relatively wide bid-ask spread limited the buyer pool on some assets. The average time of deals on the market was 35 weeks in 2025, 36% up on the 25-week average in 2024. As such, the volume of stock under offer or exchanged at year-end was up 12% on the year earlier, with over £707m in the pipeline.
Our team is the most active adviser in the UK business park market, with £400m of live office park transactions currently under offer or in the market, alongside a strong pipeline of town centre investment and change of use opportunities coming to market this year.
