East Anglia property business owners in the small-to-medium market are feeling more positive about the future of the sector in 2012 than in the past 12 months, according to the results of a report released by Lloyds TSB Commercial. Approximately one-quarter (23 per cent) of respondents stated they expected market activity to increase over the next six months.
The optimism of the East Anglia commercial property owners are sharing is in contrast to the outlook of property business owners in London, who reported feeling less confident about the current UK market. The Lloyds TSB Commercial survey measured the business owners’ level of confidence based on their thoughts about investing and sources of obtaining funding. Regional commercial lending by Lloyd’s to businesses in this category has increased by 11.5 per cent.
The results of the survey indicated that even though business owners in East Anglia expressed some confidence about recovery in their local area, their impressions about activity in the region were split. One quarter of respondents stated they expected activity levels to decrease, while just over half of those surveyed (51 per cent) predicted that activity levels would remain stable. The rest of the business owners were evenly split between the level of activity improving or declining in the near future.
While the overall outlook is more positive for business owners in 2012, commercial property owners are not pointing to a massive change toward a more active market. Any change in attitude toward a positive turn in the market is considered a good sign. No doubt owners of SMEs will be making decisions about business deals and their own investments with caution over the next six months, since the majority of those surveyed (63 per cent) stated they expected the value of their current portfolios to remain static during that period.
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