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By Esha Vaish
Feb 15 (Reuters) - British commercial property values roseat their slowest rate for three months in January, aclosely-watched index showed on Wednesday, as Britain inchescloser to formally triggering its exit from the European Union.
The value of British commercial assets grew 0.25 percent inJanuary compared with December, MSCI's IPD real estateindex showed, as a recovery from declines seen immediately afterBritain's June 23 Brexit referendum appeared to lose steam.
Although prices have held up better than expected since thevote, analysts have warned values could fall this year asuncertainty over the path of Britain's EU exit and its economicfuture dampen sentiment among buyers and occupiers.
Some financial firms, among the biggest users of officespace in London, have warned they could move jobs overseas overconcerns about their ability to service EU clients once Britainleaves the bloc.
HSBC and UBS have said they could eachmove about 1,000 jobs out of London.
Uncertainty has already meant prime properties are sellingfor discounted prices, and property consultant JLL saidlandlords were having to offer better incentives to lure intenants, especially in London.
An industry survey earlier this month showed 18 percent ofrespondents had reported evidence of firms looking to relocateaway from Britain in response to Brexit, up from 14 percent seenin the preceding quarterly survey.
In central London, 32 percent of respondents said they hadseen this evidence.
"There are clients researching other potential locations incase they need to make decisions (to move)... Inevitably theremay be a proportion that go in that direction," James Beckham,head of central London investment at property consultant Cushman& Wakefield, told Reuters.
MSCI's UK IPD data showed that the value of London West Endand Midtown offices fell slightly in January.
The IPD real estate index is one of Britain's most widelywatched commercial real estate data surveys, and tracks about10.5 percent of professionally managed British property acrossall sectors, including retail and office property.
The January index was based on data from 3,052 propertyinvestments with a total capital value of 44.5 billion pounds ($55.14 billion), MSCI said.($1 = 0.8070 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Adrian Croft)
