Property rental values fall for the 14th consecutive month

It said that this was the lowest rental value equivalent figure since December 1992 and brought UK rental values to a 16 year low.

However, the pace of capital depreciation has continued to slow to -2.31% and has caused a slight increase in income returns to 0.67%, equating to a monthly total return of -1.63%.

IPD said that April’s monthly decline was the shallowest since August last year before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

It also said that there was a reduction in the month-on-month yield impact which reached -1.74% which led to another 0.18% increase in all property initial yields to 7.84%.

Retail was hit by the steepest monthly fall in values of 2.61%, followed by offices and industrial at -2.27% and 1.79% respectively.

Malcolm Frodsham, research director at IPD, said: ‘Rental values haven’t fallen this rapidly for more than 16 years.

'The demand shock has been so severe, given the breadth of industries affected by the downturn and the scale of companies downsizing, that office relocations and expansions have been off the agenda.

‘Given the pace of rental adjustment to date, it suggests that when the wider economy does recover that the UK commercial property market will be well placed to recover from a low base.’