ABSTRACT
Land and property is a generic term that encompasses both developed and undeveloped land resources. The former may also be categorized by use and includes residential, office retail and industrial development sectors. The importance of land and property to the economy is now acknowledged by government, politicians and policy makers. The contribution of commercial property to the national economy, for example, is significant both as a component of investment, but also as the main collateral for loans to companies to finance investment. It has been estimated that the commercial property development and construction sector was worth £250 thousand million to the United Kingdom economy in 1989 and its direct contribution was equivalent to almost 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is comparable with the contribution of the energy sector (including North Sea oil and gas) to the national economy (Currie and Scott, 1991).
