RICS report highlights grim commercial property market

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 12-02-2009

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) quarterly commercial property report for the last three months of 2008 showed that consumer confidence in the sector fell again.

Overall, confidence in the outlook of the sector reached an all-time low of minus 68 and capital values declined from a level of minus 69 in the third-quarter to minus 89.

Occupier demand and enquiries diminished at its fastest rate since the survey was founded in 1998.

All indicators in the report remained in a negative state for the fifth consecutive quarter and all have now reached their lowest level in the survey's history.

Meanwhile, Jason Butler, a partner at Bloomsbury Financial Planning, recently commented that individuals looking to invest in the commercial property sector should maintain a balanced portfolio in order to hedge against falling property prices and lower rental income as a result of the economic downturn.