Demand among UK businesses for commercial premises ground to a standstill during the first half of this year following strong growth in 2004, a report said today.
A rapid slowdown in consumer spending growth and weak industrial activity has hurt business confidence, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
But the group said economic conditions had stabilised, and demand for office space remained firm, although it was less so for retail and industrial properties.
Demand for properties among businesses remained the same in London and Edinburgh during the six months to the end of June, while it rose in Cardiff but fell in Birmingham.
The group said growth across most of Western Europe had been "tepid" during the first part of the year, but across the rest of the world the boom in the commercial property market had been sustained.
