The vultures remain perched in the trees, having seen very little distressed selling of UK commercial property, according to fund management firm Clavis Walden.
"Back in early 2008 a realisation dawned on many in the property world that the global financial crisis was going to be harder than many expected, resulting in a major downturn in property values with the lending banks forcing breached loans to be repaid, flooding the market with fire sales from desperate sellers and providing a once in a lifetime feeding frenzy for vulture funds that were quickly launched," says Iain Keys, managing director at Clavis Walden.
So, has the market performed accordingly?
Keys said lenders have, in the main, avoided distressed selling where there is a rental stream.
"With new equity building for the asset class, capital values have stabilised, certainly in prime sectors, without hitting the low levels anticipated by some," he says.
"So a number of vulture funds cannot invest within their expected risk profile to achieve the 20% IRR they set out.
"We think there is still some downward capital value movement to come as rental values continue to fall; this is particularly the case in secondary markets which will force banks and other sellers to take action."
Keys adds that banks have waited for the market to stabilise before taking action and there has now been a turn in investor sentiment with institutional and retail funds seeing positive investment flows.
He says the return of confidence has exacerbated the dilemma for the vulture funds "as there is a broad base of active investors who are all seeking good value, which will not help to create the market conditions for distressed asset pricing".
"With new equity building for the asset class, capital values have stabilised, certainly in prime sectors, without hitting the low levels anticipated by some," he says.
"So a number of vulture funds cannot invest within their expected risk profile to achieve the 20% IRR they set out.
"We think there is still some downward capital value movement to come as rental values continue to fall; this is particularly the case in secondary markets which will force banks and other sellers to take action."
Keys adds that banks have waited for the market to stabilise before taking action and there has now been a turn in investor sentiment with institutional and retail funds seeing positive investment flows.
He says the return of confidence has exacerbated the dilemma for the vulture funds "as there is a broad base of active investors who are all seeking good value, which will not help to create the market conditions for distressed asset pricing".
