Distressed commercial property sales go up in UK

Posted 16/08/2009

The number of distressed properties being sold on the commercial property market has gone up across the world, a new report has revealed.

According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), this trend has been seen in more than three-quarters of the countries it surveyed.

Britain was said to have seen one of the biggest increases in distressed sales during the second quarter of 2009.

Oliver Gilmartin, senior economist at Rics, said factors such as rising corporate bankruptcies are likely to lead to more distressed properties coming onto the market over the next few months.

He added that elevated refinancing costs would also lead to greater problems for commercial property landlords.

“As such, transaction activity in distressed properties is certainly set to rise in 2010,” Mr Gilmartin commented.

This comes after the British Chambers of Commerce warned that vacant commercial property is hitting the confidence of businesses in the UK.