Alder King

• Enquiry levels for residential land have already increased. Tim Heal, partner in charge of Alder King’s Gloucester Office commented: “During the last quarter of 2009 we witnessed an increase in demand for residential land from developers. In 2010 we hope that this demand will lead to deals as confidence returns to the market.”

• Investment activity is on the up. Mark Rothwell, head of investment at Alder King said: “2009 saw the return of adventurous investors to the market and whilst there remain threats, going forward into 2010 the prospects for the investment market remain positive: we have already seen demonstrable improvement in yields for prime properties, which we hope will spread to secondary and tertiary property once occupiers have evidence of sustained economic improvement.”

• “Whilst we don’t expect 2010 to be easy, most commentators believe that generally the worst is over and fears of a double dip seem to have subsided.” Said James Gregory, head of agency at Alder King’s Swindon office. “We are also likely to have continued low interest rates this year, which may encourage investment in commercial property. Cash buyers will also be in a good position to acquire property at which has been repriced during the recession. Locally we also expect that a lack of new stock will cause rents to stabilise in Swindon’s industrial market.”

• The market is improving. Owen Young, head of agency in Alder King’s Cardiff office said: “Demand from smaller regional residential developers is already quite strong in South Wales and national developers are also starting to look. Housing associations are also looking for sites but funding needs to be grabbed now because we predict it will be limited. The market for smaller industrial premises is also starting to pick up and office take up during 2009 in Cardiff was not as bad as first thought, although two deals played a big part.”