Aberdeen’s reputation as a commercial property hotspot is reinforced in the latest annual review from one of the top names in the industry in Scotland, Ryden.
It says the firm’s Granite City office contributed 34% to group turnover in the year to April 30, 2013, putting operations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Leeds in the shade.
The Edinburgh and Glasgow offices contributed 22% and 32% respectively, with the much smaller Inverness and Dundee sites accounting for 3%.
Results unveiled by Ryden in November showed turnover and pre-tax profits both grew by 7% in 2012-13, to £11.3million and £4.06million respectively.
In its review, published yesterday, Ryden’s Aberdeen-based managing partner, Bill Duguid, said business in Aberdeen was up 15% year on year.
Chief operating officer Simon Scott added: “Aberdeen again drove much of Ryden’s growth, with a 15% rise in turnover contributing a third of the firm’s total income.”
Ryden has more than 140 people, including about 30 partners, across its six offices.
Aberdeen has for a long time been the best place in the UK outside the south-east of England to make money from commercial property.
Further evidence of buoyancy in the market in Europe’s energy capital emerged at a business outlook briefing held in the city by property firm Christie and Company yesterday.
Christie hotels director Ken Sims said Aberdeen was outshining most other UK cities, thanks to the strength of the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Growing buyer demand for hotels, restaurants, pubs and care homes during 2013 was further proof of the thriving property market in and around Aberdeen, added Mr Sims.
Highlighting recent hospitality industry figures showing average room rates for Granite City hotels in 2014 up by 16% on a year ago, he said: “Aberdeen is a boom market. That is why national and international hotel chains want to get into the city.
“The hotels in Edinburgh and Glasgow are not even into double figures.”
Mr Sims added: “There is still a substantial appetite from operators looking to expand specific brands in Aberdeen, with most of them wanting sites of at least 100 rooms.”
He told the Press and Journal it would be 2017-18 at the earliest before new hotels being built in the city started to soak up demand, meaning fast-growing room rates for at least a few more years.