By Neil Lewis

"There will be no new Commercial Property developments for two years!"

This was the gloomy prospect outlined in Munich following the run on European banks, commercial property markets and stock markets since Lehman Brothers went bust around the 17th of Sept.

This radical change of sentiment has opened up in less than 4 weeks and equally heralds a new type of investor - the Equity Investor who is taking the place of the Leveraged Investor. And of course, new investment strategies.

In the commercial world we are talking about the difference between a hedge fund which leverages its investment as far as possible (Leveraged Investor) giving way to the conservative pension funds that are happy to sit with 8% commercial rental returns on prime office and retail space, with modest capital growth and little or no funding (Equity Investor).