A number of recent contributions have considered aspects of the impact of structual changes in the urban economy on the urban commercial property market (D'Arcy and Keogh, 1998; Mills, 1995; Sivitanidou, 1997). In particular, these have stressed the role of changes in information technology as a key influence on the future location and structure of property demand with the implication that such changes have opened up the possibility of office occupiers operating profitably in a much wider range of feasible locations. Empirical support for this broad contention exits in terms of the CBD-suburban value vacancy shift observed in many US metro markets. In contrast Gaspar and Glaeser (1998), contend that information technology and the demand for face to face contact are complements rather than substitutes with the implication that the future structure of urban commercial property demand may be significantly less spatially dispersed than current trends suggest. This paper considers these issues in the context of a number of key European metro markets. In particular, the paper examines the role played by the institutional structure of the commercial property market in individual countries as a determinant of the potential for value vacancy shift and also considers the relevance of the recent US experience of urban property market change as a guide to the future structure of European markets.

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