SMALL signs of optimism are returning to the North West commercial property market, according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) quarterly survey.

However, the third-quarter study also shows that access to liquidity and credit remains a major hurdle to development.

Surveyor confidence in the North West’s retail and industrial sectors has risen over the past quarter by 27% and 7% respectively, but dropped by 7% in the offices market, according to the survey.

The offices sector in the North West appears to have been negatively affected over the last quarter, with demand for offices dropping from 15% in the second quarter, to just 6%.

Occupier enquiries have also decreased by 7%. Rent expectations for offices in the region have increased by 6% and available floorspace is up by 8%.

Brian Ricketts, a partner at Liverpool agency Hitchcock Wright, said: “Market confidence is definitely returning, albeit this is not yet reflected in tangible uplifts in rents or cap values. Underlying lack of liquidity of credit, however, remains a problem.”

Demand for retail space in the region has stabilised after reporting a drop of 24% in the last quarter, while retail occupier enquiries have dropped 2%.

Rent expectations and available floorspace have also seen a decrease, with drops of 4% and 6% respectively.

In the industrial sector, occupier enquiries have registered a positive boost of 9%.

Demand is also up by 2%, a pattern mirrored by rent expectations which has recorded a 3% increase. However, figures for both still remain in negative territory.

Jennifer Welch, RICS operations director for the North West, said: “The results for the North-West may provide the first signal that a strengthening in the global economy has filtered into multi-national lettings.”