Industrial estate sold to FTSE 250 investor

Birmingham-based Nurton Developments has sold the Harcourt Trading Estate in Telford for above the asking price of £2.33m.

Real estate investment trust Hansteen bought the multi-let industrial estate, which has 67,300 sq ft of space across 10 fully-let units.

Nurton director Rupert Young said the sale, and Nurton’s £1.73m disposal of a unit at Chase Park Industrial Estate in Burntwood to an Isle of Man investor at the end of last year, show there is strong demand for industrial property in the region.

He said: “We’d seen interest from occupiers increase and thus rents rise in both locations, and thought the time was right to test interest. When we saw the bids coming in, we were confident we’d made the correct decision.”

Nurton plans to reinvest the money raised in new projects, including strategic land acquisitions.

“We are a trading organsiation rather than a long-term investor,” he said. “We will hold property if the market dictates this or until our business plans have been put into practice but equally, you need the flexibility to move when the time is right.

“The industrial market is extremely strong in the West Midlands at present and we felt the time was right to sell in both cases.”

Both disposals were carried out by Andy Price, a director and co-founder of Franck-Steier Price, a Birmingham-based investment and consultancy practice, specialising in the industrial market.

“In both locations, the market has been moving upward because of local influences,” said Price.