Morley Fund Management sold Mocatta House, Trafalgar Place, Brighton, to Invista for ?8.8 million.
The office complex, next to Brighton railway station, measures 3,421sqm over six floors and has 63 car parking spaces.
It is currently let to three tenants – the Post Office, Secretary of State for the Environment, and software company NC Soft Europe.
Morley was represented by commercial real estate adviser CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) in the deal. Neil Crombie, from the investment arm of CBRE’s national business team, said that, despite this deal, the downturn in the commercial market was likely to continue.
He believes commercial and residential property will continue to suffer until the credit crunch, which has resulted in banks being reluctant to lend to each other, has eased off.
Mr Crombie said: “We have definitely seen prices drop off from commercial property by about 15% to 20% since June last year. I would not be confident in saying we are at the bottom and that it will start turning round. Both commercial and residential markets are affected by what is going on in the banking world. Until we see a resolution on that front we are not going to see a huge recovery in either market.”
Despite this gloomy forecast, Mr Crombie says deals were still being done in the commercial property sector and Brighton remained one of the most popular places in the South East to invest. He added: “Transactions always take place when you have a buyer and a vendor prepared to meet in the middle and do a deal. In this particular situation we were both happy.
There are transactions being done across the country. When the market was buoyant you would hear a lot about them but I think a lot of them are under the radar at the moment.
“The sector in Brighton has been particularly positive and development like Trafalgar Place have been very well received and will probably remain so in the future.”
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