Insurance News Archive
Expert claims commercial property values 'far from stabilising'
Commercial property values are likely to continue to fall over the coming months and not stabilise as some have predicted, according to an expert.
Mat Oakley, chairman of the British Council of Offices research centre, anticipates continual softening of the market into 2009.
He says it may have been possible to take a "reasonably optimistic point of view" on when the credit crunch might end in April but fresh concerns about tenant covenants, strengths and rental growth mean continual softening should now be expected.
Mr Oakley claims he is witnessing "more investors doing nothing in the UK market" than he has before and suggests they may be waiting for the right time to buy.
He adds: "I think what a lot of them are forgetting is that nobody really knows that a market has bottomed out until it's happened.
"The best time buy is just before the bottom and we are probably not that far off it."
Research commissioned by Investec Private Bank's Structured Property Finance division in April shows the majority of property professionals believe commercial property valuations will stabilise before the end of the year.
21 Jul 2008
