Building speculatively ‘does not make sense’ in this market, British Land’s Stephen Hester told delegates at Offices 08 in Newport this morning.
However, his message was not all gloom, as he stated that the long term outlook for offices was positive.
Referring to the troubles at Lehman Brothers over the weekend, he said: ‘It is a difficult time to talk about offices as the events of the weekend have been truly tumultuous.’
However, he went on to say that the events could prove to be the marker of the bottom of the market and stressed that offices were the most cyclical property asset class.
‘The good times are very very good and the inverse applies,’ he said.
Adding that a lack of speculative development and a steady medium term picture for office demand meant that he remained confident that: ‘there is a place for offices in ours and everyone’s portfolio, provided they are well managed in the cycle’.
Stephen Hester at Offices 08
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