Office interior figures give hope of recovery

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 22-10-2009

Recent figures have shown the office interior and commercial property market is beginning to show signs of recovery.

Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the British Property Federation, said positive returns are good news in the commercial property and office interior sector, although people should not get carried away that a sustained recovery is now on the cards.

He commented: "Obviously any good news is welcome, but I wouldn't say that we are suddenly going to see the industry rebounding quickly from the traumas it has faced over the last year or two years."

According to the latest commercial property report by Jones Lang LaSalle, rental growth remained negative at minus 1.2 per cent and the company predicted rents will fall by 9.7 per cent in 2009 and 3.9 per cent in 2010.

However, the report noted all-property total returns posted positive figures of 4.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2009 - the first positive result since the second quarter of 2007 and the highest return since the second quarter of 2006.