Commercial Finance Specialists

The commercial development market will not see major growth this year, it is claimed, despite one company seeing a healthy first quarter profit.

A major property investment firm has turned a healthy profit in the first quarter, but is not expecting major growth this year.

F&C Commercial Property Trust delivered returns of six per cent in the first three months of 2010, the firm has announced.

Although this represents a "strong return", it is less than the ten per cent seen in the last quarter of 2009, while the firm expects growth "to remain muted".

Falling rental values mean that the market for commercial development companies remains in a fragile situation, according to an F&C statement.

"There is still pressure on the income stream and with the economy projected to see modest rates of GDP growth on consensus estimates and fiscal policy set to tighten, occupier demand is expected to remain muted," the firm went on to say.

Earlier this week, the Investment Property Databank claimed that the monthly capital growth rate is now at its lowest since last August, indicating the momentum is disappearing from the UK commercial property market.

Posted by Hadji Singh.