Irish investors spent £500 million sterling on the property investments in the UK last year, according to the latest Property Outlook published by Hamilton Osborne King. Denise Murphy, an associate director, reports that there is now "a large weight of money" chasing commercial investments. The main market constraint was the current shortage of quality stock. This was evident in the new benchmark yield of 6 per cent set in Stockley Park, where a UK institution recently outbid several keen overseas investors, including some Irish interests, for an office investment. Ms Murphy says that short-term interest rates are at their lowest level since 1977 following the latest reduction in the base rate to 5 per cent.