Fund manager Anthony Bolton has suggested that the commercial property market may offer attractive returns again in 2009.

The well-known stock picker told the Times that he would be happy to buy commercial property at yields of 7.5 per cent.

This is despite a prediction from the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors that commercial property values will drop by a further 25 per cent in 2009.

If its forecast proves accurate, this would bring commercial property prices 50 per cent below their peak level.

But Mr Bolton believes the yields on offer - at more than four percentage points above the Bank of England base rate - outweigh the risks involved in the commercial property market.

However, Mark Dampier from Hargreaves Lansdown disagrees. He told the newspaper: "With the credit conditions as they are, commercial property is unlikely to begin a recovery for at least six months."

John Caudwell, founder of the mobile phone retailer Phones4u, told the Sunday Telegraph recently that during the last three months, he has spent around £80 million on commercial property.