Commercial property investors are to act with caution in the coming year, as they embark on the “flight to quality and security”, according to Knight Frank.

In a trend that could see landlords place increased importance on commercial property insurance, Darren Yates, partner in the commercial research team at Knight Frank, said “the watchword is going to be caution” in the face of more risky markets in some countries.

Mr Yates said the focus will be properties that “tick all the boxes – prime property in the best locations let on a good lease to a good tenant”.

“The quality of the tenants will become increasingly important because it is all about maintaining that income stream while the wider market is more volatile,” he added.

He added that investors will be much more wary of commercial property without guaranteed returns, for example a secondary business park or a small high street unit in a small northern town in the UK.

The comments came after LaSalle Investment Management suggested risk aversion will increase in 2012, predicting it will almost run as high as in 2009.