“As the overall rate of property values slows dealers who've relied on them to prop up loss making businesses are going to find it harder to keep trading,” said Rob Jones, partner at Trevor Jones, the accountancy firm which also runs a motor trade property service, Dealer Watch. “Over the last 5-10 years businesses merrily losing £50,000- £100,000 a year haven't had a problem because the values of their properties have risen more than that. When property values stop going up, banks and lenders will have to look at how secure they are.” He said that lenders had already “become more conservative.” He said that they had calculated loan to property values up to 80 per cent, but were becoming increasingly cautious about who they lent money to, and how much they were willing to loan. However, Jones did not predict a price crash and said that value reductions would bring rental returns more into line with property values. His comments came as the Investment Property Databank's latest monthly commercial property survey posted returns of minus 1.5 per cent, and city analysts sharply marked down likely 2007 returns from the sector. Angela Sheahan, IPD's research manager described the latest fall as “a correction.”