Prospects good for retail property firm - commercial mortgages

27 July 2007

One of the UK''s biggest property firms has said that it is confident about future performance following a four per cent rise in net asset value.

Property company Liberty International owns £8.2 billion worth of shopping centres and retail property in the UK, Reuters has reported, and saw a net rental income of £174 million for the first half of 2007.

This was up by seven per cent on 2006 levels, indicative of the higher rents now charged by property firms and others with commercial mortgages

"Our properties are stable and resilient assets and we are clearly moving into an environment where this is important," commented Liberty chief executive David Fischel, according to Reuters.

This week saw the British Property Federation (BPF) launch an accreditation scheme designed to encourage more transparency among both commercial landlords and tenants, with minister Yvette Cooper saying businesses stood to benefit from such legislation.