Multiplex UK, the construction and development company, has bought a regional UK shopping centre providing the first hard evidence that prices of retail property have fallen by at least 10 per cent since the start of the year.

Multiplex bought the Friars Shopping Centre in Aylesbury for just under £90 million sources disclosed.

The deal means the shopping centre, which is understood to produce annual rent of about £5 million, was valued on a net initial yield of nearly 5.6 per cent.

In early Spring, similar regional shopping centres sold on yields of 5 per cent or less.

The seller was Friend Provident Life and Pensions.

Few deals in any of the commercial property market sectors - offices, shops or industrial - have concluded since August, when the advent of the credit crunch put many potential deals on hold.

A lack of deals in the property market over the past few months has made pricing difficult. Without liquidity it is hard to benchmark. Agents had, however, fretted over falls of up to 10 per cent in commercial property prices by Christmas.

Fears were growing over the health of the retail property market even before the summer, after warnings from some of the country's largest property developers including British Land and Land Securities about widening yields on so-called secondary retail investments.

Last month British Land pulled the sale of its Meadowhall shopping centre near Sheffield, last valued on its books at £1.64 billion, citing uncertainties over the credit markets for the lack of buyers willing to pay the asking price.

Earlier this year British Land sold its East Kilbride shopping centre near Glasgow, owned jointly with Land Securities, for £387 million, 2.8 per cent down on the book value of the asset as at the group's March year-end.

Francis Salway, chief executive of Land Securities, warned in May as he delivered full-year results to March 31 that parts of his retail property portfolio may have been hit by falling values.

Mr Salway added that properties most at risk of downgrades in value were out of town retail parks which may be vulnerable to a down-turn in consumer spending on big ticket items such as carpets and DIY.

The share prices of Capital & Regional, Britain's largest retail park developer, has slid since the start of the year. Land Securities updates on its latest half-year valuations tomorrow and British Land follows suit on Thursday.

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