The amount of money spent on European commercial property this year is expected to be down by 55% on last year’s total, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

The firm said that between €105bn (£95bn) and €110bn (£99bn) will have been invested this year.

JLL said that in the fourth quarter of this year about €16bn (£14.4bn) of transactions were concluded, reflecting a 30% fall in volume from the previous quarter.

Tony Horrell, head of capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle said: ‘The volumes in 2008 are no surprise to those close to the market given the situation in global financial markets, the wider economic slowdown and investor confidence levels. Although we believe that we are through the worst, investment activity will remain low in the early part of next year.’

He concluded: ‘In 2009, we expect some highly geared investments to come to the market as banks repair their balance sheets. As a result of quite significant falls in the capital values that we have already seen, markets have moved closer to fair value and will create some excellent buying opportunities in the coming year.’