City Of London
London’s Vanishing Office Buildings Are Being Replaced by Hotels
Soaring inflation and higher interest rates following the pandemic upended London’s office market and caused values to fall.
Photographer: Jose Sarmento Matos/BloombergSwathes of London offices have been sold to hotel developers as they look to take advantage of plunging property values and a bounce back in travel demand after the pandemic.
Since 2019 almost 4 million square feet (370,000 square meters) of offices in the UK capital have been sold to investors who intend to convert them, enough to fill the city’s Gherkin skyscraper eight times over, according to data compiled by CoStar Group Inc. The bulk of that - 2.7 million square feet - was sold in the last two years.