A modest upturn in the property market should bring more investment to Leeds in 2010, says a major consultant.

CB Richard Ellis says that despite low investor confidence at the start of 2009, the highest quarterly deals figure for the last three years was achieved in the last quarter, including the city’s largest transaction for five years, culminating in over £157m of investment.

Jonathan Shires, director of office agency for CBRE Leeds, said “Sentiment is improving across the region as a whole as Yorkshire demonstrates its resilience against the global economic downturn. There was also an emergence of smaller deals as new, start-up companies emerged and existing organisations downsized.

“Whilst the public sector remains a key source of demand in Leeds, it was in fact the business services sector which took the most significant market share, accounting for 29 per cent of all space let in the 78 deals of 2009.”

Read the full article on the Yorkshire Evening Post’s website