Office rents 'to stabilise in 2010'

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 11-06-2009

Commercial property rents have been forecast to stabilise by mid to late 2010.

UK office interior space is currently undergoing a downward trend, however, this will not last forever and there will be a return to growth by the end of next year, according to Ed Stansfield, property economist at Capital Economics.

He noted: "The falls are going to slow very substantially and we will be looking at a period in which rents might then be in the final leg of any downturn, or beginning to stabilise; that probably is not unrealistic."

Mr Stansfield added that the rest of Europe is more than likely feeling the effects of recession harder than the UK.

According to a recent report by DTZ, prime rents in London's City and West End areas have now fallen by 31 and 23 per cent respectively since their peak values.

The company predicted that the global office interior market is set to decline by 20 per cent this year, to stabilise in 2010 and then rise by ten per cent in 2011.