A number of property shares have come under pressure following downgrades from Goldman Sachs.
British Land is down 5.5p at 516p, Land Securities has lost 3p to 768p and Great Portland Estates has fallen 3.6p to 446.9p after the bank moved its rating on the companies from buy to neutral. It said:
We reduce our forecast for London office rent growth through 2013. Taking into account current UK economic data and office demand data, we maintain our forecast of growth for London office rents through 2013, but on a more muted basis (City; 2%, West End; 7%). These revisions affect our forecasts, although the impact is more limited where real estate investment trusts are skewed to better sub-markets and/or have significant asset management initiatives.
It kept its buy rating on Hammerson, up 4.9p at 465p.
Overall the market is holding onto its gains ahead of the US non-farm payroll numbers, with the FTSE 100 currently 25.80 points higher at 5853.58.
