Commercial property is suffering more in the current credit turmoil than it did in the previous slump during the savings and loans crisis of the late 1980s, according to a survey of the industry published on Monday.

In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Merrill Lynch takeover and the government bail-out of AIG, 60 per cent of real estate executives questioned by law firm DLA Piper said the credit crisis had had a bigger impact on their sector than any other event in the past 20 years.