A new study by the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS), has found that the demand for business property in Wales has surged.

The study found that requirements for industrial property and office space rose in the final quarter of 2009, even as the demand for retail space kept falling. Of the three requirements, office space witnessed the highest rise in demand right through the fourth quarter.

A quarter of the chartered surveyors who prepared the report said the demand for office space swelled in the final quarter, with 29 per cent noting that the third quarter of 2009 had seen a decline in office space demand. The amount of available space also came down in the fourth quarter, compared to the third quarter where office space was available in plenty and had, in fact, increased.

The research promises a new hope to the desk space rental market, with surveyors predicting that the sharp fall in prices is over. Although, rents may still dip in the next three months the fall will not be steep as what was experienced earlier.

The survey also revealed that the number of new office space complexes actually rose in the fourth quarter with fewer development projects getting shelved.

Even as the research promises good times, the retail space in Wales is still not performing as expected with surveyors reporting a huge dip in businesses inquiring about office spaces and the demand for space largely. A quarter of the surveyors said there was a large decline in inquiries in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to much better figures in the third quarter.