Fife commercial property market update

Earlier this week the Chancellor delivered his pre-Budget report which detailed measures directed at reducing the UK’s budget deficit. In terms of the commercial property market the most relevant announcement was the return of the VAT rate to 17.5 percent as of 1 January 2010.

Given the turbulent state of the economy, and more specifically of the commercial property market, we have decided to conduct a series of surveys concentrating on the commercial property market in Fife to build a clearer picture of the performance of the market and to gauge the levels of optimism for recovery.

The results of the first survey which we conducted in September 2009 sent out a mixed message for the commercial property sector in Fife and the state of its economy more generally.  It did reveal some positives – many businesses appeared ready to invest in new property projects and to pick up a bargain when properties were at historically low prices.  But, overall, the message was a sobering one, with most businesses delaying major spending decisions on their properties and few predicting any increase in property prices within the next 12 months.  The responses clearly indicated that the key constraint on the property sector and economy more broadly remains the attitude of the banks. Tellingly 82 percent of respondents said that the availability of bank or other sources of finance impacted on their property investments decisions, with 60 percent of respondents reporting that it had become harder to obtain bank finance in the preceding 3 months.

By continuing to collect responses from yourself and other key business people and professionals in the Fife area, we aim to provide a barometer of the health of the Fife commercial property sector and, by doing so, to contribute to a better understanding of the needs of owners, tenants and other occupiers in Fife and surrounding areas.

We should appreciate your assistance by clicking on the link below and taking a few minutes to complete the survey.

TAKE SURVEY

Thank you in advance for your help.  We will report on the results of the survey in a separate update.

Please note that whilst the findings from the survey are intended to be made public, we will keep confidential the names and addresses of individual respondents.