Commercial Finance Specialists

Commercial property take-up in the industrial sector is booming, with figures for the first six months of 2010 almost eclipsing the whole of 2009.

Take-up of commercial development assets in the industrial and logistics sector has seen a sharp rise in the second quarter of 2010.

This is according to the latest research from real estate agent CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), as the firm finds that take-up of such property in this period was 7.9 million sq ft, the highest quarterly total since the market peak at the end of 2007.

Logistics leasing from property investment firms for 2010 as a whole is now just 100,000 sq ft short of the total for all of 2009.

CBRE head of UK industrial agency Paul Farrow says that the figures reflect improving sentiment from occupiers and property investment firms.

"The biggest deals of the quarter highlight two features that are returning to the logistics market – large pre-lets and the driving force of the retail sector," he added.

However, as the commercial property market begins to slow down, some are predicting a downturn in commercial development asset values.

Research conducted by Reita has found that 24 per cent of independent financial advisers are now expecting commercial property values to decrease.

Posted by Hadji Singh.