Positive news from London property major Great Portland Estates (GPE) Thursday morning with a trading update showing both it and the capital are continuing to head back to their pre-pandemic real estate best.

GPE reaffirmed its annual rental value guidance “after a strong three months” to the end of September, noting an improving economy, falling interest rates and scarcity of supply would continue drive growth.

The company said it had delivered £6.1 million of new lettings, bringing the total for the financial year to date to £10.5 million, 7% ahead of the estimated rental value (ERV), “with our fully managed spaces outperforming once more”.

On the retail front, it said following the 22,500 sq ft letting to TK Maxx, in the latest quarter the business also completed three new retail deals at Mount Royal in the West End where brands signed new leases (totalling 20,000 sq ft). It has also secured new lettings on almost 60% of the space available at Mount Royal, “to great brands who all have a long-term vision for the location”.

Positive news too in an office segment showing strong demand for company headquarters and flexible working “enabling us to lease ahead of expectations in a market starved of such centrally-located, quality space”.

And a continuing return of London’s full-time workforce can only be good news for the retail sector too.

“With £8.8 million of lettings currently under offer at a 16% premium to ERV, we reaffirm our confidence in our portfolio rental value guidance of +3.0% to +6.0% growth for the financial year,” it added.

Meanwhile, after a £350 million rights issue and £250 million debt issuance since results in May, GPE also said it was confident it could snap up accretive acquisitions.

“We have around £100 million under offer, fully aligned to the acquisition criteria we set out in May. Beyond this, we have a further £1.6 billion under active review or on our watchlist to buy”.

GPE will announce its half-year results on 14 November.