The Ernst & Young survey found that 42% of corporations expect their property holdings to grow in the coming year; 18% expect them to shrink and 40% expect to be broadly static. And almost 65% of respondents said they would be increasing their investment in real estate in the coming year.

Companies were also asked specifically about their strategy post- September 11, and 47% agreed that security had moved up the agenda with new restrictions on access to corporate facilities. However, 85% of companies said they did not expect that concentrations of employees would be changed, implying that there will be no exodus from city centre locations.

The survey also looked at the way technology is changing corporate real estate functions. Although 31% of companies now use online procurement for commodity items, this does not extend as far as real estate. Only 16% said they were now carrying out real estate transactions online.