10  BIS Review 153/2010  Graph 16  One segment of business investment that remains weak, however, is non-residential building. Following large increases in gearing and commercial property prices in 2006 and 2007, the commercial property market has since deleveraged and prices have fallen.
The bulk of that adjustment is probably now over, though the availability of finance for commercial property development remains very tight. Employment has grown strongly over the past year and the unemployment rate has fallen back to a range of 5–5½ per cent, which historically has indicated a degree of tightness in the labour market.