Three times as many commercial developers reported a fall in activity in May compared with those signalling a rise

Commercial development activity in Britain fell for the seventh month in a row in May, according to an industry survey from Savills.

The property services firm said its Total Commercial Development Activity Index showed a net balance of minus 19.7 percent 鈥� slightly up from minus 20.8 per cent in April but still the second lowest reading in the survey鈥檚 history.

Around three times as many commercial developers reported a fall in total activity compared with those that signalled a rise, reflecting concerns with 鈥渨eak market sentiment鈥� and tighter credit availability, it said.

But Mat Oakley, head of Savills鈥� commercial research, said the company expected market concerns to ease by the end of the year.

He said: 鈥淲ith only 10% of developers seeing a rise in activity this month, it is clear that concerns about bank lending and tenant demand remain rife. We expect both concerns to ease towards the end of 2008 as a clearer economic and capital markets picture emerges.鈥�