Saudi investors have bought four residential blocks from Manchester-based Beech Holdings for £39M as vendors and investors prerpare for a summer sales surge.

The residential team at Knight Frank sold the four blocks, including Basil House, Portland Street and Salisbury House, Princess Street, to Cedar Tree Investments. Cedar Tree is overseen by Saudi-based AIMS Investments.

The deal was Sharia funded by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank UK, Business Desk reported.

AIMS Investments said they intended to build a "sizeable" portfolio in the UK by 2021/22.

The deal reflects continued confidence in the private rented sector, where Knight Frank said annual rental growth is 1.6%. It comes as Knight Frank Manchester revealed that it surveyed and reported on more than 1M SF of assets that were put up for sale last month as landlords and investors shrugged off doubts raised by the Brexit impasse.

The firm's project and building consultancy teams reported a huge increase in instructions in May across the North West region and across all sectors. This is the highest ever floorspace figure recorded in a single month.