Aside from residential property developers and housebuilders, pub and restaurant chains, retail outlets and other commercial enterprises all have property assets at the foundation of their operations. Understanding and maximising the true value of these assets in the current market is fundamental to any restructuring exercise, requiring experience and expertise to ensure the integrity of any conclusions.

Helping bank lenders understand the value of completed houses or development sites is only one part of the advisory jigsaw that real estate specialist practitioners in the corporate recovery field can offer. Other skills are needed to understand the financial structure of a company and its place in the market, together with the ability to identify what is going wrong and take early action to achieve the best possible outcome in the circumstances.

After 17 years of economic growth, it is not clear how many of today's executives have the skills and experience to manage through a downturn. Having the expertise to form an assessment of a company's management – to know whether they really have the capability to work through problems – is crucial to successfully restoring finances, and therefore bank debt, to health.

In today's challenging environment real estate professionals have a much higher profile as lenders seek greater transparency of their risk exposure and protection for their own and their clients' revenues, but even through the boom years, our specialists were able to bring their knowledge to bear in a variety of situations, providing advice in strategic planning and asset management processes for clients across the region.

Nationally, PricewaterhouseCoopers is working with more than 30 firms of housebuilders, including some household names, trying to rescue their finances and plan for the future.

In the commercial property arena, where the assets are held in property companies or by the operating company as an owner occupier, property can represent a considerable asset on the corporate balance sheet. When a particular market sector runs into difficulty, we are able to work with companies and their lenders to find innovative solutions, involving both the property and the business, with the aim of emerging from the downturn in a winning position.

With the shake-out in the property sector set to continue for the foreseeable future, it makes sense to act early to assess prospects for your property business or client. Opportunities exist to make acquisitions as distressed players exit the market and a strategic review of any property related enterprise has never been more timely. Property assets vary greatly in quality and expert help is needed to answer the age-old question, "hold or sell?"

David Sparke provides real estate advice to banking and corporate clients on distressed and recovery situations. To find out more, contact him on 0113 289 4441 or email david.sparke@uk.pwc.com

David Sparke is a chartered surveyor and leads the real estate team in PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP business recovery services practice in the north.