Commercial Finance Specialists

GVA Grimley predicts that rental yields from retail property will be stable this year.

Retail property rents will remain more or less flat this year, according to one advisory organisation, which may interest those seeking sources of finance for commercial property investment.

The comments follow a report from Cushman & Wakefield, which reported this month that average retail property rents declined by just over eight per cent in 2009.

Jason Sibthorpe, head of retail at GVA Grimley, said that where deals are being done on commercial developments, incentive levels achieved by occupiers are beginning to be squeezed.

"By definition, if the incentive package is lesser, then actually the rental value if anything may be slightly improving – albeit the headline rental won't effectively change," he added.

Mr Sibthorpe went on to say that while more occupiers are clearly getting back into the market and looking for places to run their businesses, expansion plans are not "particularly aggressive" at the moment, suggesting that the market will not see dramatic rises or falls this year.