For office and industrial property the new cycle is firmly underway, according the March 2015 Commercial Property Outlook by Knight Frank, (using data provided by IPD), which reported that investor interest has broadened to engulf the near entirety of both sectors.

However, for retail the figures remain patchy, and comparatively disappointing. Retail has been consistently the worst performing IPD sector on capital growth, total return, and rental growth for nearly three years now.

Knight Frank reports: 'Central London standard shops were one of the first areas of real estate to rebound from the dark days of 2008-2009. All the retail sub-sectors covered by IPD are reporting capital growth on a 12-month comparison, although on a month-on-month basis some are losing momentum, or even falling again.

'However, it is the comparative performance where retail has been lacking. Retail has markedly underperformed offices and industrial. Of the twelve sub-sectors that make up IPD's office index, nine recorded double digit capital growth on a twelve month basis, and three saw high single digit increases. From the 25 sub-sectors that make up the retail index, only one achieved double-digit growth while 13 are in the low single digits.'