Property group delivers record final quarter

A Warwickshire-based firm of commercial property experts is celebrating a record final quarter after generating £7m from sales of retail, office and industrial premises in the last three months of 2021.

Leamington Spa-based ehB Reeves ended the year by securing three seven-figure sales among seven properties sold, its best return since the company’s formation in 2018.

Amherst Business Centre, in Budbrooke Road, Warwick, was sold for £1.32m, while Acorn House, an office and training centre complex in Coventry Road, Warwick, was sold to the NHS for £1.67m.

The third of the seven-figure-plus returns saw ehB sell the historic Minories shopping centre in Stratford town centre for £1.85m.

Director Simon Hain said: “These results show that Warwickshire is still a boom area for commercial property sales and what’s heartening is these are a variety of property types, from office to industrial and retail.

“A combination of low interest rates and property being in short supply means anything coming up for sale is going very fast. It shows great confidence in the local market.”

Hain said the change in planning laws brought in last year, which make changing a building’s use much easier, have led to a lot of people “thinking laterally” about letting properties they own.

“Where previously buildings uses were rigorously protected by planning uses, often to the detriment to the location, we can now see a far more varied use of buildings bringing a far more interesting mix of occupiers and ultimately an enhanced variety of goods, services and amenities to our community,” he said.

ehB Reeves was formed in 2018 by a merger between Leamington-based companies ehB Commercial and Reeves and Partners. The new firm enjoys a growing management portfolio in excess of £100m.