Online searches for UK commercial property return to pre-Christmas levels

Feb. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- The monthly study revealed that interest levels for the industrial and distribution property were at their highest for several months whilst interest in retail property fell slightly, despite having reached its highest level for 2009 at the end of December.

Andrew Barber, of Revolution Public Relations, comments: “Interest in the UK’s commercial property sector during January, as demonstrated by users of Google search facility, returned to the same levels experienced prior to Christmas. However, it proved to be quite a volatile month with many peaks and troughs – particularly for retail. The extreme levels of interest in shops seen between Christmas and New Year was not sustained beyond the first few days of 2010 – which would seem to confirm that this spike in activity was a result of many, well-intentioned New Year resolutions.

He adds: “It might also vindicate Napoleon Bonaparte’s observation about us being a ‘nation of shopkeepers’ – or maybe he should have said a ‘nation of would-be shopkeepers’?”

Search activity in the investment and office sectors returned to levels similar to those witnessed in the autumn – which had been at reasonably constant since the summer.

Andrew concludes: “The index’s return to the levels of the previous few months seems to indicate stable levels of interest in commercial property across the board, which is a hopeful sign of a sustained recovery.”

A copy of the Property Search Index Report for January can be downloaded from: www.revolution-pr.co.uk/psi.

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Notes for editors:

The figures used in the calculation of the Property Search Index are published by Google and illustrate the volume of web searches conducted in the UK. The weekly volume of a particular search term is ranked in relation to its highest figure for the preceding twelve months (i.e. a percentage of the peak level measured during a twelve month period). Revolution Public Relations compiles the scores for 30 individual search terms, on a monthly basis, to produce an index score to assess the level of online interest in the commercial property market.

www.google.com/insights/.

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