Development activity in the commercial sector increased during April 2010 and sentiment for the next three-month period until August was at its strongest since March 2007, according to Savills.

There were 19% of commercial developers that indicated a rise in total activity compared to 15% that reported a reduction, however the total commercial development activity index rose +4% in April, an increase from -1.3% in March.

The number of developers expecting to see an improvement in business activity in the next three months increased from +9% in March to +18.1% in April 2010, with business sentiment the strongest in the industrial/warehouse sector as it rose from +11.7% to +21.7%.

Michael Pillow, head of building consultancy at Savills, said: “Given that this month’s survey was undertaken before the hung parliament and Greek debt crisis, the bounce in optimism about the future may be short lived. If both aren’t comfortably resolved by the time next month’s survey goes out then we expect a slump in optimism due to economic uncertainty.”

The best performing area of development during April was office fit-out as it increased by +13%, and was closely followed by new-build in the private sector at +12%.