Prague/London - The global financial crisis is rapidly decreasing investments in office buildings, shopping centres and warehouses in the Czech Republic. The Czech market is following a similar trend in the UK.

A new study conducted by Cushman & Wakefield says investors in the third quarter of 2008 spent approximately EUR 300 million on Czech commercial property, 42 percent less than in the same period last year.

By the end of the year, the total volume of investments is expected to reach some EUR 750 million, which would represent a year-on-year drop by up to 70 percent.

The global property crisis has claimed its first victim in the Czech Republic. Realtia, one of the country's three largest real estate funds, has announced it is going out of business due to market instability.

C&W suggests that the Czeh property market is following recent developments in the UK.

"The credit crunch keeps slashing investments in commercial properties in central London. In the third quarter of the year, transactions totalled GBP 1,244 billion, which is 40 percent less than a year earlier," says a recent report on investment markets in central London.