Alastair Walker

Property Sector Spotlight : Industrial & Logistics

The industrial & logistics property sector became the hot favourite in 2020, outperforming all other property types. 

The rise of e-commerce has driven major brands to expand their footprint and therefore leasing activity.  Vacancy rates are at all-time lows and major development work is underway to meet demand.  Several AREITS are continuing their growth in this asset class and Transaction volumes were up to $3.5 billion in 2020, from $2.3 billion in 2019 – as recently reported.

So, what makes the sector tick?  Here are some attributes and advantages of the sector from our perspective.

Construction and development advantages

  • Over time construction costs in the sector have been less susceptible to escalation than other asset types.  This stability provides greater confidence to Developers when planning their next project.
  • The speed of construction enables Developers to receive a return on their investment earlier than most other forms of development.
  • Tried and tested construction techniques in the sector generally lead to less variations than other forms of construction.
  • There are also tax depreciation benefits available to developers / investors upon project completion. Continue reading

Walker and Frith pave way for Howells to lead Napier & Blakeley

INDEPENDENT property consultancy firm Napier & Blakeley Managing Directors, Alastair Walker and Peter Frith, have announced the appointment of Rob Howells as their new Managing Director as part of their strategic and succession planning going forward.

In making the announcement, Managing Director and industry leader Alastair Walker said the global pandemic had given the company an opportunity to undertake a strategic review and to transition the leadership team.

“Last year when COVID took over our lives, we decided to catch up with many things that we hadn’t done because we were continuously busy. A major part of this was to look at our strategic and succession planning going forward across the group. Continue reading