Sir James Dyson's Weybourne family investment business has bought 126-127 New Bond Street for around £71 million, a 2.8% net initial yield, as first tipped by CoStar News, as retail assets dominate sales in London's West End.
Weybourne has bought the virtual freehold interest from a private Hong Kong investor advised by Michael Elliott. The property comprises 12,900 square feet, single-let to fashion house Swaine London until March 2032. The price paid reflects a capital value of £5,503 per square feet. Weybourne is understood to have been advised by Kieran Cotter.
The 12,900-square-foot retail block changed hands in 2013 for £44.1 million, at which time it was the flagship UK retail outlet of the upmarket Italian menswear boutique, Canali.
Last year Swaine, one of the UK’s oldest luxury goods brands, founded in 1750, opened a 7,000-square-foot flagship store at the building “as the centrepiece of its most radical rebrand in 273 years”.
Founded in 1991 by James Dyson in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, Dyson designs and manufactures household appliances including vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and air purifiers. As of 2022, Dyson has more than 14,000 employees worldwide.
Investments on Bond Street have remained in high demand throughout a wider downturn in transactional activity, driven by the continued desire of the world's most famous luxury brands to have an address there.
Savills in its West End investment watch says it is now tracking 26 deals under offer totalling £648 million with only three of these deals in the £50 million-plus bracket in evidence of the smaller lot size of trades.
It says Lai Wing-To’s freehold interest in 291 Oxford Street and 2 Harewood Place, W1, has been placed under offer with the quoting price £71.35 million and a 5.76% yield. The building comprises two shops let to McDonald’s and EE, with zone passing rents of £1,096 and £968 respectively. The upper floors comprise part-let offices passing off an average rent of £68 per square foot.
Savills says transactional activity has been more muted recently with May seeing six transactions totalling £166 million, accounting for 9% of year-to-date (YTD) trades. Cumulative annual investment volumes stand at £1.83 billion (across 51 deals), which is marginally ahead of the five-year average, albeit down 33% on the last decade.
It says there has been a drop in openly marketed buildings with six assets marketed at a combined quoting price of £221 million. The largest is JP Morgan's marketing of Times Place, 45 Pall Mall for £135 million or a 4.34% via JLL. The building has a weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) of 5.5 years to expiries and 4.1 years to breaks.
Savills' prime yield stands at 4%.