The Queen’s property portfolio, the Crown Estate, has seen whopping returns of £328.8m over the last year as demand for Central London property grows.
The total value of the property portfolio, which is mainly located in the capital’s West End, adds up to £12.4bn and saw an increase in value of 5.5% in the twelve months to March 31 2017.
The Estate’s earnings have been pushed up by the rental growth across Central London as more than 400,000 square feet of retail and office space was let during the period across the portfolio for a total rent of £34.4m per year.
All profit is returned to the Treasury.
Alison Nimmo, chief executive of The Crown Estate said: “This outperformance reflects many years of disciplined market positioning in our chosen sectors and has made our business resilient at a time of political and economic uncertainty.”
“For over a decade we’ve carefully timed our development pipeline, focussed on creating brilliant places in the best locations and maintained our active support of the UK’s world-leading offshore wind sector.”
“Looking ahead, we expect returns to remain subdued, but we are confident in the underlying strength of our markets and our commitment to quality in what we deliver. Following a record year of capital activity, this year will see the launch of two major retail schemes at Rushden and in Oxford, and the continued preparation of the next phase of our development pipeline in central London that will form the backbone of our long-term performance.”
Furthermore, investments in offshore wind generated another £27.7m for the business.
It said: “There are 30 wind farms with a total of 5.1GW of operational offshore wind and a development pipeline into the 2020s. Asset management activity included signing over 2.6GW of leases in 2016/17 for four projects. This included agreeing the lease for the 1.2GW Hornsea One offshore wind farm with Dong Energy, which once complete will provide enough electricity for one million homes.”
