Five years of growth in commercial property values have been wiped out in just 18 months, according to IPD.

Capital values fell by 26.4% in 2008, which is the most ever recorded by IPD since it began in 1987, as the financial crisis pushed the property market into a deepening slump.

Values fell by 14.4% in the final quarter of 2008 alone, meaning an overall decline of 34.3% since the peak of July 2007.

Malcolm Frodsham, the IPD research director, said: 'The last 12 months has set a number of unwanted records in real estate returns with the worst ever year capping the worst ever month and worst ever quarter in IPD history.

'Such has been the severity of the falls in values that on a pure comparison basis the UK market now looks attractively priced. Whether this matters or not to investors depends on an easing in the financial situation.'

Daily Telegraph