7 January 2010

Online searches in the UK regarding commercial property slowed during December but showed a marked increase in activity by the end of the month according to the Property Search Index (PSI) compiled by Revolution Public Relations.

The study examines the level of online searches undertaken on a week-by-week basis for a selection of the most popular and most commonly used commercial property search terms recorded by Google. Predictably, the levels of online searches for property fell during the month as the festive season progressed but began to recover in the period between Christmas and the New Year. The index for December saw a score of 127, down quite dramatically from the figure for November (165) and well below the average score for 2009 as a whole of 156.

Andrew Barber of Revolution Public Relations comments: “The predictable fall in activity during December follows the exact pattern of previous years as does the increase in online searches for commercial property between Christmas and New Year. If 2010 follows form, then we expect a peak of activity in the first two weeks of January as businesses return to work.”

Search activity for the investment, office, retail and industrial sectors all declined during the month with an uplift in the final week. The increase of activity in the retail sector began just before Christmas itself and then surged to its highest level of the year between Christmas and New Year, peaking on the 27th December.

Andrew adds: “On a cautionary note, it is possible that the surge of interest in the retail sector could be explained by searches relating to the seasonal ‘Retail Sales’. An alternative possibility is that, with New Year’s resolutions in mind it might just be a time of the year when people’s thoughts turn to running their own business. This would seem more likely as an increase was also noted for search phrases that includes include words relating to leasehold property.”

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A copy of the Property Search Index for January can be downloaded here.
 
Notes for editors

The figures used in the calculation of the Property Search Index are published by Google and illustrate the volume of web searches conducted in the UK. The weekly volume of a particular search term is ranked in relation to its highest figure for the preceding twelve months (i.e. a percentage of the peak level measured during a twelve month period). Revolution Public Relations compiles the scores for 30 individual search terms, on a monthly basis, to produce an index score to assess the level of online interest in the commercial property market.

Google

For further information please contact:

Andrew Barber
020 7197 0178
andrew@revolution-pr.co.uk
www.revolution-pr.co.uk

Revolution Public Relations - the commercial property PR and media relations specialist.