Commercial property values slipped last month

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Commercial property values slipped last month

UK commercial property values fell slightly in February over January with returns totalling just 0.1%, with capital values falling by 0.4%. This was according to the latest monthly index from CB Richard Ellis.

However, Central London offices continued to buck the trend with returns totalling 0.5%, up from 0.3% the month before. In the rest of the country however, offices, shops and shopping centres, all registered capital decline in February.

Yet experts believe this to be merely a blip and not an indication of a long-term downward trend.

Nick Parker, senior analyst of Economics & Forecasting at CBRE said: "A general cooling in investor sentiment has been evident for the past nine months, but until recently, valuations haven’t been adversely affected to any great extent. Now, the power has shifted back to the buyers, but with this shift comes great opportunities for those that are able to act."

Yet according to CBRE’s Real Estate Investor Intentions survey released last week, foreign investors not hampered by a tight domestic debt are targeting the UK and particularly London. The uncertainty in Europe has made the UK more appealing with a third of the investors surveyed saying that London was Europe’s most attractive property investment market for 2012.