The decline grew worse during the year. While the value of sales in the first half of 2015 were down 35 per cent from the same time in the previous year, they were 53 per cent lower in the second half of 2015 than they were during the final six months of 2014.

Major commercial centres were particularly hard hit. The sales value of such facilities as office buildings and shopping centres sank to $237 million last year from $555 million the previous year and $1.1 billion in 2011,

Vacancies are growing and lease rates shrinking, a situation expected to become worse when three downtown office towers under construction are finished.

One of the few bright spots was in the field of apartments, walkups and row houses, where the $329 million worth of sales was virtually unchanged from 2014 and prices per suite were about four per cent higher.

But The Network expects weakness to continue and thinks 2016 will likely be on par with 2009, the low point in the last 2008-10 downturn.