However, chief executives of Helical Bar and Prestbury say that it will take another decade for values to reach those of June 2007

There will be huge deals to be won in commercial property in the coming months, but values will not reach June 2007 levels for another decade, said Mike Slade, chief executive of Helical Bar, and Nick Leslau, chief executive of Prestbury, today.

The pair spoke at a Movers and Shakers networking group breakfast this morning on the subject of the road to recovery in the commercial property market. Both agreed that the recession would continue to bounce along the bottom for a while, but that the industry was in a “bubble market” at the moment, creating an opportunity to snap up deals.

Leslau said “fortune favours the brave” and that now is the time to start looking at spending: “We've just bought 8 million ft2 of industrial space at £29/ft. Will we lose money on it in the short term? Absolutely. But we will then make a lot of money out of it over a five-year period.”

Slade added: “People need to get the balls to start building again and they could do extraordinarily well. Gerald Ronson's gamble on his tower looks set to pay off as by 2012 there will be no grade A letting space in the city apart from his. I look at the city now and I am licking my lips.”

But both admitted that there would be a long wait before values reached the same levels they were in June 2007: “Traditionally it takes a generation,” said Leslau. “So we're looking at 10-15 years. We won't see it coming.”

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