Morley Fund Management sold Mocatta Home, Trafalgar Place, Brighton, to Invista for £8.8 million.
The office complex, next to Brighton railway station, measures 3,421sqm over six floors and has 63 auto parking spaces.
It is presently let to 3 tenants – the Post Office, Secretary of State for the Environment, and software organization NC Soft Europe.
Morley was represented by commercial real estate adviser CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) in the deal. Neil Crombie, from the investment arm of CBRE’s national organization team, said that, despite this deal, the downturn in the commercial marketplace was likely to continue.
He believes commercial and residential property will continue to suffer until the credit crunch, which has resulted in banks being reluctant to lend to every other, has eased off.
Mr Crombie said: “We have undoubtedly seen prices drop off from commercial property by about 15% to 20% since June last year. I would not be confident in saying we are at the bottom and that it will begin turning round. Both commercial and residential markets are affected by what is going on in the banking world. Until we see a resolution on that front we are not going to see a massive recovery in either market.”
Despite this gloomy forecast, Mr Crombie says deals had been still being done in the commercial property sector and Brighton remained one of the most common places in the South East to invest. He added: “Transactions often take location when you have a buyer and a vendor ready to meet in the middle and do a deal. In this specific situation we had been both happy.
There are transactions being performed across the country. When the marketplace was buoyant you would hear a lot about them but I feel a lot of them are under the radar at the moment.
“The sector in Brighton has been especially positive and development like Trafalgar Place have been extremely well received and will almost certainly stay so in the future.”