Local and regional buyers dominate business sales market

16th August 2010, 4:19pm

Local and regional buyers have dominated the acquisitions market across the UK’s hotel, pub, restaurant, care and retail sectors over the last 12 months, according to new research by specialist property agent and advisor Christie + Co.

Nearly 70% of all businesses acquired through Christie + Co over the last 12 months have been bought by parties who live within 20 miles of the purchased business.

The new figures showed that over 70% of pubs were sold to buyers already living within 10 miles of the business they have bought. This was closely followed by restaurants, with 67% of buyers living within 10 miles of the business they acquired, and then retail sites (41%), hotels (40%) and care units (37%).

Although the majority of businesses are bought by local buyers, Christie + Co's research showed that a large number of buyers also targeted sites more than 50 miles away.

Hotels were most popular with buyers who lived over 50 miles away from their desired acquisition, with 35% of all hotels sold being acquired by applicants in this category. This was followed by care units (33%), retail sites (21%), pubs (12%) and restaurants (7.5%).

Simon Hughes, UK managing director at Christie + Co, said: "The difficult residential sector has focussed many more applicants on buying a business close to where they are already living. This is a trend that we experienced in the early 1990s when the housing market was similar. Lock-up businesses and first-time businesses are proving particularly popular across the retail and licensed sectors where there are some great opportunities. It's always important though when selling to widen the net as much as possible as there are still plenty of buyers moving across the UK for the right opportunity.

"As our research suggests, quality care homes are in particularly high demand, attracting buyers from a wide area. Pubs and restaurants more commonly attract local buyers who are familiar with the local market and customer base."

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