In the past few years, the way people work has changed drastically, thanks to the advent and constant evolution of one element more than any other - technology.
The rise of the internet changed many things since its widespread inception from the mid-1990s, but in the last two to three years, the arrival of the cloud and the ability this has given businesses to change how they work has transformed the market.
Companies can now store their information without the need for hardware, and they increasingly permit their staff to work from home - a policy which has brought about, according to a 2013 report from Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, a 13 per cent drop in their overhead costs.
Working from home development
In 2001, the Economist reports, some 678,000 people worked from home, with many of these being self employed workers, freelancers and small business.
However, in the space of a decade this has swelled massively, and there are now more than 1.6 million people who do just this. The cloud has meant people are always reachable, have access to the relevant files and software they need and can generally do their job without ever having to come into the office.
The Olympics helped to push the idea to all-new levels as well, and although the reasons for doing it were different - the avoidance of congestion for commuters, for example - some six in ten companies in London adopted remote working. Some of these will have realised the benefits and kept it on to some degree ever since.
So how has this changed the commercial property market and the way people invest in the industry?
At times like this, it would be tempting to think that it's bad news for commercial property investors, but this does not appear to be the case. The CBRE reports that quarter three of 2013 saw UK commercial property rents rising by 0.6 per cent, with an increase of 5.2 per cent year-on-year for total returns.
What this shows is that commercial property must have learned to adapt to the rise of technology as opposed to simply being damaged by the change in the way companies operates. so where are the key areas for this?
Technology and the change in investment
Evolution is the buzzword when it comes to the rise in technology, and this is also true when we are looking at how investors now need to work in commercial property.
Large office spaces are no longer as necessary as they once were. Office managers and business owners want smaller offices. With some of their staff able to work from their own properties, it means there is no longer a need for the sort of workplaces that cater for all of their staff at the same time.
It does not mean in any way that there are fewer offices in demand - businesses still need to have access to a central office - but it does mean that what they want to rent is different, and this can be reflected in the way people invest in the market.
Technology and the change in quality
The fact that technology has become such a cornerstone of business has also created a need for a certain type of office space.
With files and data stored over the internet and people working via the same medium, it has become imperative that commercial landlords offer what is known as Grade A stock - offices that are fully enabled with fast connections and the ability to support the technological advances that businesses are making.
For example, at the end of 2012, overall demand for office space was starting to see a slight decline, but Grade A stock alone was helping to keep it afloat.
Jones Lang LaSalle reported that in the fourth quarter of 2012, demand for the best-equipped modern office spaces alone pushed commercial rents up by 2.3 per cent.
And of course, offices that are not up to this challenge will become obsolete. In certain areas, a lack of Grade A stock is being seen as damaging to their commercial markets. Jones Lang LaSalle said that a lack of new, high-quality office suites could see Birmingham damaged as soon as 2015 as suppliers run low on stock.
Technology and the geographical impact
Perhaps the biggest impact on the commercial property market, however, has been the fact that companies are no longer tied down to certain geographical areas.
Whereas in days gone by it would have been vital for financial bodies to be in London and IT firms to be in the south of the country, for example, the rise of things like the cloud and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) has meant that they no longer need to be right in the mix, allowing them to seek the best prices outside of these traditionally more expensive markets.
This is reflected in the way the commercial property market has recovered in the past few months as well. While the market as a whole was damaged post-2007 when the property bubble in the UK burst, it is now at its strongest since 2010.
Outside of London alone, IPD data shows commercial property posted a return of 2.4 per cent in the third quarter of the year - its fastest rate at any point in the last three years.
The organisation's head of UK and Ireland Phil Tily said: “The divide between London and the rest of the UK has reached unprecedented levels over the last six years, but with economic improvement spreading out of London, investors in the regions are starting to benefit from improved rates of return.”
Businesses are moving north, and investors are clearly heading with them. Cities like Birmingham, and even further north Manchester and Leeds are starting to become strongholds for commercial property.
What this shows, more than anything else, is that far from being damaged and left behind by the evolution of technology and the way it has changed business operations, the commercial market has in fact learned to evolve alongside it and start to grow stronger as a result.