What's Happening to UK Commercial Property Prices - Ups & Downs

At the height of the UK commercial property boom many analysts believed their was only one way property prices would go and that's up! So many of the big property firms embarked on a debt-fuelled acquisition drive, buying up large stakes in landmark developments.

Since the July 2007 peak, plummeting commercial property prices left many investors nursing a massive hangover! With huge losses investors have been trying to quickly offload their stakes to balance their books. It's a firesale as commercial property giants like Land Securities take a £115m hit offloading it's 33.3pc stake in landmark developments like Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre for £210m (reportedly worth £325m at it's peak) to reduce the risk in their portfolio.

Last month Britain's third largest DIY retailer Focus was trying to do a deal with landlords who include Property giants British Land and Land Securities to stave off  administration and trade through a recession hit high street (saving almost 5000 jobs).

"RBS, Lloyds sell repossessed properties to subsidiaries to avoid billions of losses" reads the headline in THE Times 24/08/09

The commercial property market is beginning to pick up as demand for office space picks up. However  their is genuine concern over the rising number of cut price discount shops popping up where big names close down in "recession hit high streets" - (source Mail on Sunday 16/08/09)

Presumably the same analysts who didn't see this coming now predict that "UK commercial values are poised to 'go positive' for the first time in 25 months and rents are falling less rapidly" - (source Mail on Sunday 06/09/09)

So what's happening to UK commercial property prices, is it a good time to buy/ sell?
According to Daily Mail columnist, Richard Dyson "No one can say whether UK commercial property has reached the bottom, but it's decidedly cheaper today that as its July 2007 high" - (source Mail on Sunday 06/09/09)