Commercial property has enjoyed its biggest month-on month hike in worth of the year, with a 1.1% increase in May.

Added to April's rise of 0.8%, values have gone up for 13 months in a row and are 8.5% above where they were at the start of that period. However, the IPD UK Monthly Property Index suggests there is still some scope for growth before 2007's peak is hit again.

Executive director, and UK and Ireland chief for IPD Phil Tily said 13 months of growth across the national market was evidence the country is "very attractive" for people looking to invest.

Returning to the report, there was a 1.6% return on commercial properties for May, with 0.5% return via income. Equities gave back 3.2% comparatively and bonds 0.9%.(JP Morgan 7-10 yr/MSCI UK).

The leading area was taken back by industrials, which returned 1.8% in the month. Offices were not far behind at 1.7% but retail was still lagging despite recording 1.4%, up from 1.0% the month before.

Looking at capital values, retail fared better with more growth - 0.9% - but it was still not on the level of industrials (1.2%) and offices (1.3%).

Offices in the skirts of the South East put in the best regional performance for May, with 2.2% returns. They also had the best looking yield adjustments, adding 2.0% on capital values.

That fits a recent trend for the region's offices to do better than the centre of the capital, which pulled in 1.8%. In yield adjustments, central London's retail property saw 1.8% have a knock-on effect on values as investor demand stays strong.

Office rental values in London's heartland were up 1.3%, while the rest of the city and the country as a whole made 0.7%. There was also growth across shop rents for the whole country, with retail outlets in the South East up 0.1% and London 0.7%.

Thomas Grounds, Senior Analyst at Strutt & Parker, said: “Tentative signs of rental growth coming through outside of London are a positive sign, giving investors some comfort that the economic recovery is not entirely centred on the capital as they increasingly look to invest in regional markets.”

The IPD UK Monthly Property Index suggests that, compared to other assets, UK property remains likely to attract investors looking for income as it looked strong in May, with a 6.9% average equivalent yield at the end of the month.

The Index monitors the achievements of a pool of 3,397 real estate investments between open market price assessments. In April, the portfolio was worth £36.6 billion.

It looks at total returns, in ungeared form, to the investments - which are directly held - from valuation to valuation.