Allan Saunderson is managing editor of Property Finance Europe and a contributor to GlobeSt.com.

FRANKFURT-VICTOR, the German office value indicator launched earlier this year by Jones Lang LaSalle, posted a fall of 2.3% in the second quarter, re-accelerating from the quarterly fall of 1.2% in the first. In particular, the Dusseldorf and Frankfurt banking quarters, at -2.8% and -3.7% respectively, demonstrated a distinctly weaker performance.

The third calculation of VICTOR, which measures office values quarterly in the five largest German cities reached an absolute level of 98.9 and thus was below its base of 100 at end-2003 for the first time since the boom period of commercial property in 2006 and 2007. But the picture looks different on an annual basis. There, Frankfurt is fractionally recovered but still 15.6% below June 2008, and Munich in particular shows strength, down just 7.3% in value after a fall to a discount of nearly 9% in the 12 months to end-March.

Compared to the peak at end-June 2007, the indicator was nearly 20% lower, with the average across the Big 5 only exceeded by Frankfurt, where office valuations, according to VICTOR, were 26.6% down from the recent market top.