Deka Immobilien purchases Birmingham office space
Deka Immobilien has purchased a prestigious office property in 
Birmingham.
The group paid €25 million for Direct Line House in the city’s business district.
Deka Immobilien GmbH has purchased Direct Line House in Birmingham’s business district for €25 million according to reports out this week. The group purchased the property from a fund managed by Signature Fund Management Limited.
Situated at 10 Livery Street, the office property provides more than 63,000 sq ft of Grade A office space in a prime West Midlands location. Completed in 2001, the property is currently fully let to insurance provider Direct Line for another 10 years.
During negotiations Deka was advised by Simmons & Simmons and Savills, while DTZ/DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and Jones Day advised Signature Fund Management Limited.
Commenting on the acquisition Savill’s John Heaver said: “Deka’s purchase of Direct Line House in Birmingham is a return to this key regional city after a five year absence and is another step towards them building a portfolio of well let prime modern offices outside London where they believe there are good opportunities with long term growth potential.”
The announcement comes as a new report out this week suggests that the price of office space in the city has fallen significantly in the last year. According to officebroker.com, businesses paid around £74 a month less to rent serviced office space in Birmingham during a nine month period in 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.
Although the data might suggest that the lower prices could be attributed to market competition, officebroker.com believe higher volume deals could be behind the price drop.
“Larger occupiers will result in lower rates being negotiated with providers. Larger businesses with larger requirements, which were largely absent in 2010, would appear to have had an impact on the pricing levels being recorded across the city centre. And while the individual number of firms moving into serviced space has fallen, the amount of physical space taken has increased by 85%,” commented Head of UK sales at officebroker.com Chris Meredith.