Commercial property investors received another battering as a raft of bearish forecasts and store closures poured more gloom on the retail sector.

Commercial property rentals nationally will fall by 7% in the next 2 years as the recession begins to bite, according to the latest research.

Savills' November index of commercial development activity shows 13th monthly fall in a row

Latest statistics show an increment in the number of people losing their homes in the UK, to the highest rate since 1996 but still below peak of 1991.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced the largest annual loss in UK corporate history, reporting that its 2008 loss totalled £24.1billion. It also said it would put £325billion of toxic assets into a scheme that offers insurance for any future losses.

Commercial Property Funds see rich pickings from the carnage in commercial real estate, stockpiling cash to buy discounted loans that may cost banks billions of pounds in the coming years.

Chancellor Alistair Darling bowed to pressure last night and cut the planned 5% rise in business rates that was threatening to cripple many small firms.

General Growth Properties (GGP), America’s second-largest mall owner, shut it's doors because it could not refinance it's short term debt. Many other property owners are in negative equity or have insufficient positive equity to meet banks tougher criteria for refinancing, if their bank has the capital.

A long-awaited taxpayer-backed scheme to help recession-hit families avoid having their homes repossessed will come into force today, on the eve of the Budget. As a result some hard-pressed homeowners will be able to reduce monthly mortgage payments for up to two years after lenders representing what officials said was more than 80% of the market agreed to offer support.

Temporary shops, once the preserve of fireworks retailers have gone upmarket, temporary big brand outlets are sneaking up on European streets, filling vacancies opened by the credit crunch and building a buzz that's relatively cheap. One example is tucked away on a side street in the shell of an old railway arch. Only open from Thursday to Sunday, the Nike store in Shoreditch, east London, was originally planned just for the duration of last year's Olympic Games.

About 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks being stress tested will be instructed by regulators to raise more capital, according to a source familiar with official talks. The banks have been negotiating with their regulators about the depth of their capital needs, should the recession prove to be deeper and longer than anticipated. Markets have been anxiously anticipating the results, which will differentiate the strongest banks from those still expected to sustain considerable credit losses.

The recession will likely signal the end for many of Britain’s smaller buy-to-let landlords, and poses a grim threat to city-centre new build properties, warn experts at The University of Nottingham.

House repossessions rise in Q1 Nearly 13,000 Britons lost their homes to repossession in the first three months of this year as the recession deepened, but there are tentative signs things could get better as the year wears on.

Lenders to Four Seasons Healthcare, the heavily indebted care homes group, are considering a last-ditch plan for a restructuring that would about halve its £1.5billion debt. If there is no agreement, the company will be sold.

Buy-to-let landlords are losing their properties at over three times the rate of other homeowners.

Insurance companies are returning to a previous role as lenders to soothe Britain's property debt famine and turn dealmaking hopes to reality.

The UK commercial property market is in the best position to recover compared with other key European sectors but the US is still on a downward spiral, according to reports from analysts.

Big discounts in Spain's office and retail property markets served to attract private investors rather than institutions, which are wary of falling rents, as the rental market remained weak, consultants have said.

Signs of stabilisation in the housing market encouraged lenders to approve more mortgages in June, while the flow of lending to firms fell at a slower pace in May, Bank of England data showed today.

UK commercial property prices rose 0.2% in July, their first positive reading since the market peaked in June 2007, data from CB Richard Ellis, showed today.

Lending from private banks and other institutions is likely to prove a key driver of economic recovery from the current downturn, Capital Economics said today.

Marks & Spencer raised full-year profit hopes when posting an improved quarterly sales trend, but said costs were rising and it would be 2011 before the economy fully recovered.

UK residential property prices rose on an annual basis for the first time in 16 months fuelled by a lack of supply, according to figures released today by Rightmove.

NB Real Estate, the central London office specialist agency, say that the huge interest witnessed from investors in the London market over the past two quarters shows no signs of abating.

Mitchells & Butlers plc today said it swung to a full-year net profit from a net loss last year, helped by food sales and strong brands, but said the outlook for the second half is uncertain.

Increased demand amongst discerning cash rich buyers in the UK means that the best properties in the best locations are now typically within 5% to 10% of their peak, according to new research.

Plans for a major regeneration scheme, covering 250 acres in London's Brent Cross have been given the go-ahead by Barnet Council, and will take 20 years to complete at a cost of around £5 billion.