Commercial property investment activity in Wales to the end of Q3 2026 was up 43% on the same period last year, according to new data from Knight Frank.
Deals worth a combined £220m were completed in Wales during the nine months to the beginning of October, with £39m of transactions completed in the third quarter – marginally below the £47m recorded in the same period in 2025.
Assets changing hands included Bridgend Industrial Estate, a retail unit on Dunleavy Drive in Cardiff Bay, the Biffa Waste Services facility in Swansea, and Parc Bryn Llywd in Bangor.
Private investors – predominantly property companies and high-net-worth individuals – continued to dominate deal activity, accounting for 63% of the market. International investors were the next most active group, accounting for 16% of investment.
With a number of notable transactions likely to conclude in the final three months of the year – including the recently announced deal for No 1 John Street and the anticipated sale of Cardiff’s Morgan Quarter shopping arcade – Knight Frank said it expects a strong final quarter of activity.
Gareth Lloyd, capital markets partner at Knight Frank Cardiff, said: “The last three months may have been a bit quieter, but the wider picture in Wales has been remarkably resilient so far in 2026. Even with geopolitical and interest rates uncertainty lingering in the background, investors remain pragmatic and keen to deploy capital before the end of the year, while pricing has become more established outside London.
“There is a weight of money still eager to find a home, with many investors seeing a generational buying opportunity – prime office headline rents are at an early stage of their upward cycle in Wales, supply is tight, and demand for quality space is pushing values forward. Cardiff’s appeal is also easy to understand: it is a capital city with three major universities, excellent graduate retention and a competitive workforce, and it regularly scores well on quality-of-life measures.
“Private capital remains highly active in Wales, with a mix of high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and propcos picking up where others have left off, while French investors continue to play a prominent role in the market. A number of significant sales are expected to land in the final quarter, reinforcing the momentum we have seen build in recent months and the sense that Wales – and Cardiff, particularly – continues to be an attractive investment proposition.”
