£160m property deal total for Napthens

Property experts from regional law firm Napthens advised on deals worth more than £160m in the last 12 months.

This total was across more than 430 transactions which took place over the 12 months since May 2017, and marks a marked increase for the firm’s real estate team over the previous year.

The property team has revealed that the bulk of its work involved sales and purchases of freeholds, totaling almost £130m and accounting for almost 70 per cent of the transactions. More than ten per cent of the work involved bank lending and refinancing.

Jamie Allison, partner and head of Real Estate at regional law firm Napthens, said the figures demonstrated the strength of the property sector in Lancashire.

He explained: “The market in the region is still buoyant and despite initial fears of a slow down due to factors such as Brexit or the recent rise in interest rates, we haven’t experienced this.

“Demand is certainly highest for industrial units and buildings, particularly freehold opportunities, which is what our figures are backing up.

“Residential development has also been active and continues to be so. Although, some developers have highlighted that the process for dealing with planning submissions has sometimes been slower due to the levels of volume they are seeing. “Office premises remains slower as a market and our clients tell us that finding premises can also be difficult. Areas including the South Lakes, East Lancashire and Lancaster all have a decent demand but there remains a lack of available stock.”