THE lack of new commercial property being developed in Scotland has been described as “worrying” by a major new study into the economic contribution made by the sector.

The real estate industry contributes £4.8 billion to the Scottish economy and supports more than 92,000 jobs, the report commissioned by the Scottish Property Federation (SPF) found.

But, while it emphasised the industry’s importance to the Scottish economy, the report highlighted the slowdown in commercial property investment in the last decade. The study, carried out by the University of Strathclyde Fraser of Allander Institute, found that new commercial property construction equated to 7.1 million square feet in 2009. However, in 2017 only 1.6m sq ft was constructed.

The research also found that, while the value of commercial property sales totalled £3.2 billion in 2016/17, after rising in preceding years, the figure was still significantly lower than a decade ago.

David Melhuish, director of the SPF, said: “The industry has experienced challenging times in recent years due to the economic downturn and fragile levels of consumer confidence which has led to a dampening of growth. However, this report highlights that the industry remains an important growth generator for the Scottish economy.”