Looking to 2026
Strettons Spotlight Series: The Year in Review
\n2025 was a year of shifting markets, changing priorities and new opportunities across the property landscape. In this Spotlight series, we’re breaking the year down sector by sector, sharing the trends that defined 2025, real examples from our work, and our outlook for what lies ahead in 2026.
\nRather than a one-size-fits-all review, this page will evolve over the coming weeks as we add insights from each of our specialist teams. From industrial and land to development, valuation and beyond, you’ll find a clear, practical view of how each part of the market has performed, and what we expect next.
\nThis is a live, rolling series, so check back tomorrow for the next sector drop, and again throughout next week as new perspectives are added.
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\nThese trends became particularly clear when looking at our activity over the past year:
Units 6 & 8, Forest Trading Estate, Priestley Way, Walthamstow, E17 6AL
The demand for smaller units has been a defining feature of the inner London market, with occupiers showing flexibility around specification in return for the right location and value. Earlier this year, this trend was reflected in our successful letting of a refurbished warehouse to Crowbond, an established grocery distribution business, demonstrating how a well-presented space continues to attract strong covenant occupiers seeking practical, efficiently sized accommodation.
Switch 74, 43 Suez Road, Enfield, EN3 7SN
The shift towards power-hungry operations has placed a clear premium on assets with strong grid capacity and future-proofed infrastructure. A clear example is Switch 74, a well-specified new build unit featuring low site coverage, high eaves and a solar PV system, which offers significant power capacity and was placed under offer just a few months after practical completion, underlining how quickly the market responds to buildings that meet these evolving operational demands.
Langhedge Industrial Estate, Langhedge Lane, Edmonton, Tottenham, N18 2TQ
The tenant-led dynamic has been clearly reflected at Langhedge Industrial Estate in Tottenham, where value-driven occupiers have favoured well-located, refurbished space over higher-spec alternatives. Units ranging from 900 to 7,500 sq ft have seen strong demand, with 10 lettings completed throughout 2025, demonstrating how competitively priced stock combined with a flexible, pragmatic landlord approach continues to outperform in a cost-conscious market.
Looking to 2026
2025 Insights
\nOur Land team saw this first hand through a number of instructions completed in 2025, including the following:
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Rom Valley Gardens, Rom Valley Way, Romford, RM7 0AE
\nAt Rom Valley in Romford, Strettons successfully sold a cleared 7-acre former ice-skating rink site with hybrid planning consent for 972 dwellings on behalf of the LPA Receivers. Against a backdrop of rising borrowing costs and a more cautious development market, the sale highlights the continued demand for strategically significant development sites. The purchaser will review the existing consent, enabling a mixed-use, residential-led scheme that will bring much-needed new homes and amenities to the area, supporting Romford’s ongoing regeneration.
\nSinclair's Laundry, 199 Brettenham Road, Edmonton, London, N18 2HF
\nStrettons exchanged an acre site which consisted of several buildings; a single storey brick north lit warehouse, two storey building and a single storey metal clad warehouse. The site has historically been used as a commercial laundry. A sale was agreed with a studio operator whose goal was to convert and refurbish the site. In a market where rising borrowing costs and regulatory changed are creating greater caution, interest came from both residential and commercial developers as well as commercial businesses, reflecting the strong demand for well-located, flexible assets that can adapt to evolving market conditions.
\nCrown And Mayer Parry Wharf Bidder Street Canning Town London E16 4ST
\nStrettons has agreed the sale of a 4.65-acre former scrap yard at Crown Wharf to a joint venture between L&G and Goldacre Ventures, subject to planning approval for a 1 million sq ft urban hyperscale data centre. In a development market tempered by rising borrowing costs and regulatory uncertainty, this scheme represents a creative alternative to heavy manufacturing, delivering employment opportunities and integrating carefully within the surrounding residential area. The sale highlights how well-located, flexible sites continue to attract forward-thinking investors despite wider market caution.
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Looking to 2026
2025 Insights
\nThese trends played out across several Strettons instructions throughout the year:
\nPortfolio of Almost 180 Affordable Homes Acquired from National Householder
\nWe provided valuation advice as part of the team’s growing national coverage to support the acquisition and funding of nearly 180 affordable homes from a national housebuilder, ensuring the client could invest with clarity and confidence. The work played a role in enabling the transfer of these homes into long-term affordable provision, helping strengthen community stability and widening access to secure, good-quality housing. By underpinning the financial case for the deal, our valuations supported an outcome that will deliver meaningful social impact, giving hundreds of households improved affordability, greater security and a pathway to better opportunities.
\nLondon Regeneration
\nStrettons was appointed to assess the viability of acquiring a large affordable housing package of over 400 homes within a wider London regeneration scheme delivering more than 1,000 units. The homes spanned multiple blocks and tenures, including social rent, shared ownership, and specialist equity products, under typical Section 106 terms. Our role was to determine whether the proposed package price was supportable using an Existing Use Value for Social Housing (EUV-SH) approach, considering long-term income, operational allowances, and comparable Registered Provider transactions. A key factor was the scale of grant funding, covering around 40% of the package value. This support reduced reliance on rental income, ensured genuinely affordable rents, and improved deliverability in London’s high-cost market. With grant applied, the package value was deemed supportable, giving the client confidence to proceed with an offer.
\nLondon Borough Disposals
\nThe Development Consultancy team advised a London borough on the potential disposal of up to 20 existing assets to help generate much-needed revenue. Our work involved assessing both the current commercial use value of each property and their wider development potential for future residential use. Drawing on this analysis, we recommended the most suitable disposal routes to maximise returns and support the borough’s strategic objectives. Following our advice, we successfully connected the client with other specialist teams within the business to progress the next stages and ensure a smooth, well-coordinated disposal process.
Looking to 2026
2025 Insights
\nThese trends played out across several Strettons instructions throughout the year:
\n184, Grange Road, Ilford, Redbridge, IG1 1HB
\nIn September 2025, our Residential Agency team sold a three-bedroom mid-terrace in Ilford for £480,000, £5,000 above the asking price, despite being marketed with six other local agents. This success comes against a backdrop of modest house price growth and recent Bank of England rate cuts, showing that well-positioned properties can still attract competitive bids and strong results.
\n28 Gedeney Road, Tottenham, N17 7DY
\nA four-bedroom end of terrace in Tottenham, initially marketed elsewhere without success, was taken on by Strettons in June 2025 and sold within four weeks for £500,000, £25,000 above the asking price. This demonstrates that even in a year of modest house price growth and easing mortgage rates, motivated buyers are active in the market, and effective agency marketing can secure strong results.
\n16 Daventry Avenue, London, E17 9AQ
\nIn March, the team sold a fully refurbished four-bedroom mid-terrace family home, achieving a subject-to-contract price of £800,000. The story behind this sale is a great example of long-term client relationships: back in 2021, our head of Residential Agency, Bryn, received a call from a client he had never spoken to before. He was considering a property in the area with strong development potential, so we had an in-depth conversation about local market trends, potential values, and advice. Four years later, he reached out again and, after a long negotiation and redevelopment, he had purchased the site, added another property, and wanted us to market both. We’ve now sold one, with the second following soon.
\nLooking to 2026
\n2025 Insights
\nThese trends played out across several Strettons instructions throughout the year:
\n361–373 City Road, Islington, EC1
\nThis instruction closely reflects the polarisation seen in the office investment market during 2025. While the building benefits from scale, location and income, investor sentiment around secondary and transitional office stock remained cautious, particularly where refurbishment costs challenged commercial viability. As a result, the majority of interest focused not on the existing office use, but on alternative living-sector strategies, including residential, co-living and hotel-led repositioning. Our ability to target a broad range of commercial and living-sector buyers generated strong competition, ultimately securing a sale to an investor now actively exploring a residential-led reuse of the asset—mirroring the wider trend of office buildings being reassessed through a mixed-use or living-sector lens.
13 Artillery Lane, Spitalfields, E1
\nThe sale of Artillery Lane demonstrates the continued resilience of retail-led mixed-use investments in well-located London neighbourhoods. Investor appetite remained strong for assets combining active ground-floor retail and leisure uses with clear refurbishment and rental growth potential, particularly where residential conversion optionality exists. Competitive bidding drove pricing 15% above guide, reflecting confidence in rebased retail rents, improving occupational demand and the long-term value of residential upper parts. This transaction aligns with 2025’s trend of investors selectively backing retail assets that combine income security with asset management and alternative-use upside.
Red Lion Row, Whitechapel, E1
\nThis instruction highlights the more muted demand for long leasehold commercial stock in 2025, particularly where vacant space, configuration constraints and financing challenges limited the traditional investor pool. Rather than a conventional yield-driven buyer, the asset attracted an owner-occupier and mission-led purchaser, seeking to use the space operationally rather than purely as an investment. The successful sale to a charitable enterprise reflects a wider market pattern, where long leasehold assets increasingly found liquidity through occupiers or specialist buyers able to take a longer-term, non-investment-led view—especially in mixed-use, placemaking-led schemes.
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Looking to 2026
\n2025 Insights
\nWhile new business success in 2025 was limited and therefore did not directly illustrate the market trends outlined above, the ongoing soft market, characterised by premium reductions and increased capacity, created a valuable opportunity for the insurance team to reassess pricing and correct historic rating inconsistencies, ensuring fair, competitive, and market-aligned outcomes for clients.
\nThis environment enabled a comprehensive review of the existing Strettons insurance portfolio. As a result, renewal retention has strengthened materially, positioning the team well to refocus on new business growth in 2026.
\nLooking to 2026
\n2025 Insights
\nThese trends became particularly clear when looking at our activity over the past year:
\nMill Industrial Estate & Site, Burnley, Lancashire
\nAn example of development-led distress and stabilisation over disposal was this established industrial estate of c 78,000 ft2 with a number of older existing tenanted buildings, a terrace of recently constructed units and a further terrace of part completed industrial units. The receivership was occasioned by the unfortunate death of the borrower company’s sole director intestate leaving the lender exposed. With the co-operation of other family members, we raised funding to complete the part finished units, allowing them to be let. At the same time, we obtained all of the outstanding Building Regulations and warranty certification, to allow a refinance.
Leeds Portfolio
Early intervention and rapid disposal was highlighted when the Receivership & Recovery team were appointed on a residential portfolio of 14 buy-to-let properties in Leeds, which had to be inspected in a very short timescale. The portfolio was sold as one lot in Strettons’ July 2025 auction for £2.23m resulting in a full recovery for the lender within 2 months from appointment to completion; the speed being necessary to restrict default interest.
One Bishopsgate Plaza, 80 Houndsditch, London, EC3A
Reflecting the insight around borrower cooperation versus challenge, particularly in high-value residential assets, this instruction on the 36th floor of the iconic One Bishopsgate Plaza, was an exceptional apartment for luxury London living. Strettons won the borrowers’ trust, and they did not interfere with our marketing strategy which ran concurrently with their refinance proposal. The apartment was listed in one of Strettons' 2025 auctions which encouraged the borrower to complete their refinance resulting in a full recovery for the lender within 3 months from the appointment.
\nLooking to 2026
\n2025 Insights
\n2025 proved to be a year defined by realism, resilience and results in the auction market. While buyer sentiment remained cautious, confidence returned where pricing was right and fundamentals were strong. That balance shaped activity across our national catalogues and delivered consistently robust outcomes.
\nIn Stoke Newington, a vacant freehold terraced property arranged as three flats sold for £1.16m against a £900,000 guide. A three-bedroom house in Forest Gate achieved £511,000 off a £365,000 guide, highlighting strong demand for refurbishment-led residential opportunities. The standout result of the year came in December, when a vacant freehold car park in Plumstead sold for £1.425m against a £375,000 guide, following sustained developer interest, demonstrating that auctions continue to reward realism. Well-priced stock consistently unlocks competitive bidding and strong outcomes.
\nHighlighting the trend that well-located London stock continues to attract capital, especially where there is income, redevelopment potential, or flexibility of use, a mixed-use investment on Leyton High Road, producing £91,800 per annum, sold for £1.15m, £100,000 above guide. Similarly, a vacant office building in Acton with development potential achieved £950,000, demonstrating appetite for repurposing opportunities. Residential and mixed-use freeholds repeatedly outperformed, reinforcing London’s depth of demand where connectivity and fundamentals are strong.
\nDemonstrating the trend of auctions remaining the go-to route for price discovery on unusual, secondary or specialist assets, development plots, garage sites and unusual lots consistently exceeded expectations. September’s catalogue showcased the breadth of demand, including Grade II listed red telephone boxes, drawing strong interest precisely because of their rarity.
\nLooking to 2026
\n2025 Valuations Insights:
\n2025 Lease Advisory Insights:
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These trends became particularly clear when looking at our activity over the past year:
In 2025, valuations increasingly underpinned funding and asset strategy decisions, particularly for large, high-value assets. During the year, we were instructed to provide a full Red Book valuation of a landmark Central London office building valued in excess of £100 million. With investor sentiment and occupational demand evolving, the instruction required detailed market analysis. Our valuation supported key funding discussions and helped shape the client’s strategic approach to the asset, reflecting the growing role of valuations beyond compliance.
\nThe year saw growing valuation demand for assets outside traditional commercial sectors, as lenders and operators assessed risk and performance across a broader property spectrum. Our team valued a leisure destination golf venue, aligning with increased interest in alternative, experience-led properties. The valuation enabled the client to benchmark performance and assess future growth, illustrating how non-traditional assets are now firmly within mainstream valuation and lending considerations.
\nAs clients navigated regulatory and fiscal change, portfolio-wide valuations became increasingly important to support restructuring and long-term planning. We undertook several large multi-asset portfolio valuations covering residential, office, retail, industrial and mixed-use properties for both private and corporate clients. These instructions highlighted the need for cohesive valuation and lease advisory input, supporting timely decision-making across compliance, restructuring and strategic planning.
Looking to 2026
2025 Insights:
\nThese trends became particularly clear when looking at our activity over the past year:
\nThe continued demand for fully fitted and managed space was reflected in the letting of the 4th floor at 33 Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, in Q4 2025. The floor was offered as a fully fitted and managed product through Strettons Select (manged workspace division). With Strettons already managed the remainder of the building, we were able to offer the incoming tenant a fully inclusive single monthly rent which covered all aspects from the rent and business rates all the way down to the cleaning, IT and utilities. This managed offering within an already well-designed and ideally situated office meant agreeing a letting within just 4-weeks of the previous tenant vacating and setting the highest rent within the building.
\nSimilarly, following Strettons move to Telephone House Strettons were tasked with disposing of their remaining sub-lease at 1-3 Sun Street, EC2, a fully fitted and furnished office floor. Strettons were again able to provide a fully managed product by utilising their property management team and successfully sourced a sub-tenant with limited voids and incentives.
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Looking to 2026
2025 Insights: Hotels
\nReflecting this shift, Strettons acted on behalf of Travelodge to deliver multiple office-to-hotel projects across North and East London. In the City of London, the Commercial Agency team secured a prominent site at 6 Broad Street Place and 15–17 Eldon Street, opposite Liverpool Street Station, where 58,893 sq ft of former office space is being repurposed into a new Travelodge hotel, subject to planning, with ground and lower ground floor retail and leisure uses reinstated to enhance street-level activity.
\nFurther east, planning permission was granted to transform Gredley House, 1–11 Broadway, Stratford E15, from a vacant office building into a 151-room Travelodge hotel, including a new bar, café restaurant. Acting on behalf of Travelodge, Strettons identified the opportunity and agreed a new 25-year lease with no breaks with the building’s owner, Unex Group, a long-term investor in the area. Works commenced in May 2024, with the hotel opening in early 2026.
\nThese transactions highlight how well-located office assets are being successfully repositioned to meet growing demand for budget hospitality, while providing landlords with secure, long-term income and reinvigorating town centre locations.
\nLooking to 2026: Hotels
Office-to-hotel conversions are expected to increase through 2026, with owners and developers attracted by the sustainable repositioning of underutilised office stock.
2025 Insights: Retail & Leisure
Despite wider headwinds in 2025, certain London locations continued to demonstrate the resilience of well-positioned physical retail and leisure environments.
\nIslington was a strong example of this trend. While online sales continued to reshape consumer behaviour nationally, Islington continues to benefit from excellent connectivity via Angel, Highbury & Islington and Essex Road stations, a dense and affluent residential catchment, and a thriving office and student population.
\nCentred around Upper Street, the area remains a highly active retail and leisure destination, supported by cultural attractions, hospitality operators and experiential occupiers that drive consistent footfall. Recent lettings completed by our Commercial Agency team including Oh My Cream, Ten Pilates, Kuhaku Japanese Bar & Restaurant, Reset Wellness and Breakin Escape Rooms, highlight continued demand from experience-led and lifestyle brands that are less vulnerable to online displacement.
\nIn short, while online retail continued to challenge traditional operators, locations that offered strong demographics, connectivity and experiential appeal were still able to outperform broader market trends.
Looking to 2026: Retail & Leisure
We anticipate continued market stability into 2026, with leasing activity progressing at sustainable and realistic rental levels, however, strong recent demand for newly available retail units suggests improving occupier confidence, making this a sector to watch closely.
2025 Insights
\nReflecting continued confidence in professional management, the team secured several new instructions during 2025, including the management of a c.75,000 sq ft investment covering rent and service charge administration.
Additional appointments include Buckenham House (c.45,000 sq ft), part-let to SpaMedica with active asset management initiatives underway across the remaining vacant floors, and Faviell House (c.30,000 sq ft), where negotiations are progressing with an occupier for full building occupation.
Looking to 2026
Sustainability and residential regulation are expected to be the defining themes for asset management in 2026 and beyond.
The Government’s proposed EPC trajectory is accelerating the need for proactive asset planning. Landlords are increasingly required to adopt forward-looking capital expenditure strategies, incorporating energy improvement works into long-term business plans to protect asset value and lettability.
Meanwhile, implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, due to take effect from May 2026, will significantly reshape residential asset management. Changes to possession rights, tenancy structures and rent-setting mechanisms are expected to increase management intensity while placing greater emphasis on compliance, tenant engagement and operational standards. Over time, measures such as the Decent Homes Standard will further reinforce quality expectations across residential portfolios.