The credit crunch and power relations in UK retail property

Recent events in the international financial economy have begun, after the usual time-lag, to generate comment and analysis in the academic media. So far, writers have tended to discuss reasons for the crisis (eg Brunnermeier, 2009), rather than impacts of particular aspects of the crisis upon particular parts of the wider economy. Of course, the popular media and professional publications have been full of predictions and analyses con- cerning such impacts, often relying upon selective case studies to convey their alarmist arguments. Of greater interest perhaps to academics are ways in which the outcomes of the recent financial crises serve to reinforce or overturn longer term trends in economic and societal relations. In this light, I want to examine some early impacts of the `credit crunch' upon commercial property markets, which in more normal times are fundamentally dependent upon loan finance. As a case study which also touches upon everyday experience, relationships between retail property owners and their retail tenants in the UK's shopping centres and high streets are of particular interest. Do recent and current events follow preexisting trends, or do they represent a significant departure from established practice? And which sector of the commercial property industry seems likely to benefit the most in the longer term? ..