While Wales has enjoyed a year of strong demand as a business destination, particularly in the wider Cardiff area, the tourism sector remains an incredibly popular growth hotspot in the country’s greater economy. This has helped Colliers International prosper in the hotel market, with a number of multi-million pound deals now under the belt of the firm’s hotels director Peter Brunt.
According to Mr Brunt, the number of high profile deals completed in the past 12 months has caused a monumental spike in the volume of enquiries received by the firm from would-be buyers. Many of these enquiries relate to locations in close proximity to well-known beauty spots in the Principality.
Mr Brunt says; “I’ve covered the length and breadth of south and mid-Wales in the last twelve months or so, with many of the clients I am acting for being ‘pension potters’ looking for the ideal business investment either in, or not far from, Wales’ many areas of outstanding natural beauty.”
During the past year or so, a number of deals have concluded in the south and midlands of Wales, many of which involved transactions valued at more than £1 million. One of the most prominent was that of the Royal Oak in Welshpool, with the 25 bedroom town centre property fetching £1.25 million back in April.
Similarly, the Penrallt Hotel (pictured) in popular tourist destination Aberporth was sold in May in a joint deal off an asking price of £1 million on behalf of administrators at Baker Tilly. The 26 bedroom hotel boasts a leisure facility and a total of 18 holiday cottages in 30 acres of land.
Yet it is not only sales deals which have proven popular in mid and south Wales, as Colliers International also acted in September for The Glanusk Estate in the re-letting of Nantyffin Cider Mill, a popular roadside inn located near Crickhowell.
Owned by Shân Legge-Bourke, Lord Lieutenant of Powys and a lady-in-waiting to The Princess Royal, the estate boasts a famous resident in the form of Tiggy Legge-Bourke, daughter of the Lord Lieutenant and former nanny to Prince William and Prince Harry.
With all of this activity in the country’s hotel sector, it is hardly surprising that costs are beginning to mount in prime locations, leaving investors less able to capitalise upon opportunities capable of giving strong returns. To combat this, Mr Brunt believes that those wishing to snatch up a piece of the pie should examine the market further afield.
He concludes; “The market is beginning to move in prime locations, and as a result canny buyers should consider widening their focus to include the many strong locations within Wales, where they can buy more for their money by comparison.”
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