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Anecdotally, I live near a small UK town that has some empty commercial properties. I've been told that the landlords are London-based, and the rental rates ref
by KineticLensman 8y ago
Anecdotally, I live near a small UK town that has some empty commercial properties. I've been told that the landlords are London-based, and the rental rates reflect London rather than local pricing. Allegedly, the landlords are keen to show that all of the properties in their portfolios could in principle attract high rates, and that to let some out cheaper would dilute the brand as perceived by investors.
Don't know how true this is, or whether it applies in Dublin, but it is one answer that I've heard when I asked the same question.
- iguy 8y agoCommercial property often has really long leases, like 10-20 years. So one reason it may sit empty is that an investor thinks a slump will be short & doesn't want to be tied to a low-rent tenant. (Or doesn't want to break up a large space for small tenants, to wait for a large one... or because they are thinking of knocking it down & building housing, etc.) I'm dubious that people in real-estate can't understand local prices, I mean within London there are vast differences by street-by-street. I'm also dubious that empty properties & claims about what they could rent for will fool many people.
- KineticLensman 8y ago> I'm dubious that people in real-estate can't understand local prices IIUC, it's not that they don't understand local prices, they instead don't care. At this scale the landlord's focus is investors in the property portfolio, not people who might actually use the property.
- iguy 8y agoI get that the CEO doesn't know everything, but why doesn't bigger scale just mean more people below that? There must be someone who knows about each property, in or outside the company... there are agencies who hustle to rent out student flats, every year. Why not here?