"UK commercial property values fall in March"

"British commercial property values fell 1.2 percent in March, taking the market's total loss since last summer's bull market peak to around 16 percent..."

Chuck in a bit of gearing, and share prices in UK property companies* are down by a third over the last year:
It's rather chortlesome, looking back at the crap they came out with when property companies were allowed to convert to REIT status**...

"Real estate investment trusts (REITs) which will enable small investors to put money in property without paying tax twice are on the way, Gordon Brown announced in his Budget speech. REITs will fill a big gap in the options open to small investors who do not want to risk their whole nest egg in one buy-to-let property, but for whom shares in property companies are highly taxed and subject to the often irrational booms and busts of the stock market".

Ah yes, better to lose a third of your money as a result of a perfectly rational collapse in commercial property prices, eh?

* The black line is Land Securities, the green line is FTSE Real Estate and Development.

** At the beginning of 2007.