Price falls accelerate in most emerging markets

* Rental downturn expected to gather pace
* Emerging Europe sees weakest occupier activity
* Upward yield shift gains speed in Japan and US.

The latest global commercial property survey from RICS shows that the pace of decline in capital values accelerated during the first quarter driven by steeper falls in prices across most emerging markets.

Prices continued to decline across the developed economies although at a lesser pace with only North America seeing sharper falls.

Tenant demand fell across all global regions however, the magnitude of the fall in aggregate has moderated.

Rents are falling across more than 90% of the countries surveyed with only Brazil, Saudi Arabia and parts of Africa, yet to report declines.

Indeed, available space is rising across every global region dampening rental expectations of real estate professionals.

Confidence towards the rental outlook has been revised down in the latest survey. Sentiment is bleakest across Developed Asia and Emerging Europe.

As such, agents are offering greater incentive packages to secure a letting across all regions.

Hong Kong , Singapore, Ukraine, Russia and Hungary are among the countries expected to see the biggest rental declines in the quarter to June.

Full Article & RICS Global Property Survey Q1 2009