Ashley Wilsdon, in charge of investment apartments in prime central London for Middleton Advisors, is quoted by The Times (link may be firewalled).
“Commercial sites are often well situated in prime central London addresses, where there is a limited supply of homes. Areas such as Fitzrovia, Soho and Covent Garden, where these types of boutique developments have been so popular, can trade typically between £1,800 a square foot to £2,200 a square foot.”
He picked out the Pathé Building in Soho, where 15 luxurious flats are housed within the old film studio HQ. CBRE is selling a 1,132 sq ft two-bedroom apartment there for £1.995 million. “You often find better-quality, more interesting types of properties in a commercial conversion than in a big new-build.”
However, Wilsdon notes that in prime central London the number of sites is drying up. “Developers are finding it much harder to gain permission. This is because office space is hard to find in the West End and rents have increased due to the conversion of commercial buildings into residential.” For buyers, this means that such properties may hold their value if the prices of luxury new-builds fall.