Forbes Solicitors sees commercial property deals bounce back to pre-pandemic levels

Forbes Solicitors advised on £22million worth of commercial property deals in December 2020, as the total value of monthly transactions returned to pre-COVID levels.

Despite trading restrictions imposed by the Government’s coronavirus tiering system and a second national lockdown in December, the firm’s commercial property team recorded its busiest month of 2020.

Instructions were completed throughout the North West and across a range of different sectors including construction, medical, warehousing and retail. Deals involved a mix of land and property purchases as well as company share sales.

The value of the largest deals ranged between £4million to £10million, while a flurry of sub £1million value deals was driven by residential and industrial construction projects and the restructuring of property portfolios.

Adam Bromley, Partner and Head of Commercial Property at Forbes Solicitors, said: “The most noteworthy aspect of the strong end-of-year uptick in commercial property deals is not so much the total value of deals, but the fact that we saw demand across such a mix of different sectors. This shows companies are adapting to the impacts of the pandemic and that there’s growing levels of confidence to invest in and strengthen businesses.

“There’s still much market uncertainty, however, whilst this may have slowed or stopped deals previously during COVID-19, we are now seeing much more eagerness amongst businesses to explore how deals can be structured to weather the storm. This has included more flexible and transparent negotiations, as well as pandemic-specific clauses inserted into agreements.”