AN AMERICAN property group has snapped up 14 industrial sites across six Scottish towns for £10.6 million, following a growing number of global investors searching for real estate deals in the country.

WP Carey, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has investments across Europe, said the property portfolio would give it reliable income.

"We believe the yields relative to those south of the Border are attractive," added a spokesperson yesterday.

The buildings at trade parks in Dundee, Edinburgh, Livingston, Bathgate, Ayr and Invergordon were previously owned by London-based Cording Real Estate Group.

Tenants at the properties include Howdens Joinery, South Ayrshire Council and builders' merchant Jewsons.

Real estate services group Savills said this week that yields from UK industrial sites have fallen by a full percentage point to five per cent over the past year, as a shortage of properties for sale has pushed asking prices higher.

The researchers said more international investors have been looking beyond the south-east of England, where prices have soared, for a place to park their money.

"We have been lagging behind what's happened in England with demand outstripping supply; now they've got speculative building going on, and we have a limited supply," said David Cobban, Savills' director of business space in Glasgow.

"A lot of people are also looking because there is good rental growth."