Members from Gatehouse Bank plc (Gatehouse), a leading Shariah investment bank based in London, are visiting Bahrain this week to give Bahraini investors updates on the UK property market.
Philip Churchill, Head of Real Estate at Gatehouse Bank, will be presenting to Bahraini financial institutions the latest market updates on the status of the UK property market, including select investment opportunities for review.
“To help Bahrain’s institutional investors make informed decisions, our aim was to bring new insights about developments in the UK real estate market,” explained Churchill.
“Gatehouse has a particular advantage over other institutions due to its combination of expertise, product analysis and research, my real estate team offers practical solutions tailor-made to the requests of our clients. Strong evidence from our research suggests that investors are becoming more astute in their decision making process and become more active agents in the decision making process. A demand for security and longer term prospects in tangible investment opportunities sees a return to an appetite for commercial real estate activity.
“I am particularly optimistic about the coming 12 months,” he continued. “There are now strong signs that the market has bottomed out, and that the investment market rebound is continuing well into 2010. The indicative 12-month moving average now stands at £2.1 billion (BHD 1.19bn) per month, which is at its highest level since September 2008.”
Philip Churchill believes that capital value growth in the real estate sector, combined with a stable rental return, and a number of key indicators, all point to a positive outlook for the commercial real estate market.
Despite reported market turbulence providing challenges in the short to medium term, the longer term economic outlook in the UK is steadily improving. Economic growth as well as a favourable exchange against the Sterling will create optimal conditions for investors looking to place funds.
“High quality asset classes such as student accommodation, health care and to select business office spaces, have all been carefully selected by the Gatehouse Real Estate team. Interestingly enough, these opportunities are not just to be found in London, but across a much wider region of the UK, giving investors further options to diversify their portfolios in order for them to ensure longer term, sustainable and rewarding returns,” Churchill concluded.
