STOCKHOLM, Jan 10 Reuters Shares in Sweden39;s Skanska eased on Wednesday after the company late on Tuesday announced property value writedowns, mainly within U.S commercial development.

Shares in the Nordic region39;s biggest builder, and one of the biggest in the United States, fell 3 at 1010 GMT, taking a yeartodate drop to 6, while the wider market in Stockholm was roughly unchanged.

In the fourth quarter, Skanska said it is booking 2.0 billion crowns 195 million worth of impairments and fair market value changes in its Commercial Property Development, Residential Development and Investment Properties operations.

The continued weakness in the property markets has led to challenges in assessing the value of property assets, it said in a statement after market close in Stockholm on Tuesday.

For Commercial Property Development, total impairments amount to 1.4 billion crowns, which is primarily driven by the U.S. portfolio. The U.S. remains the weakest geography.

Chief Financial Officer Magnus Persson told analysts and reporters in a call that in the U.S, offices are the hardest hit, partly due to low postpandemic returntooffice rates.

We39;ve been lagging behind in leasing compared to what we assumed at the start of a lot of the projects, he said, adding that high borrowing costs are also affecting demand for office properties.

Few recent comparable transactions makes it hard to assess the value of Skanska39;s properties in the U.S. In the Nordics, however,…