| Go with the flows
Another week, another raft of positive property funds-related news, kicking off with a report from funds network Calastone that outflows from real estate funds slowed sharply in January.
Sellers still outgunned buyers by three-to-one as investors sold down GBP139 million of their holdings during the month, but that was a big improvement from the eight-to-one ratio seen in September and October.
International investors meanwhile, have their sights set on London's office market, according to Knight Frank, with the company's annual London Report revealing that a healthy GBP46 billion has been allocated for investment into the sector in 2021.
Knight Frank points to London’s reputation as a safe haven as a big factor factor in attracting global investor interest. Greater China (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Singapore, and the USA are leading the way with GBP12.6 billion, GBP5 billion, GBP3 billion, respectively, lined up to invest.
"As the world’s number one city for cross border investment and the top city for cross-border private investment during 2020, the resilience of London’s appeal cannot be understated," says Faisal Durrani, Head of London Commercial Research at Knight Frank.
Staying in London, the capital's residential market has weathered the coronavirus storm well, according to Coutts, along with other 'prime' markets in the south east England, notably Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, and Oxford, which currently lead the way in terms of new mortgages for main homes. Guildford is also one of the hotspots for those looking for second homes too, along with Tunbridge Wells, Gloucester and West Cornwall.
The UK's build-to-rent (BTR) sector is on something of a roll too, says Ascend Properties, with the company forecasting that BTR completions will double by 2025 as another 73,535 properties coming to market by the start of the year. This would see total BTR stock reach 127,285 completions.
“The build to rent sector is an increasingly important part of the market, and we see that trend continuing over the next five years," says Managing Director of Ascend Properties, Ged McPartlin.
Another UK real estate market seeing strong performance is the supermarket sector with new data from Colliers revealing that transactions topped GBP1.83 billion last year, despite the coronavirus crisis, surpassing the total seen in 2019.
And finally, away from the UK, a new report from Savills reveals that while the Polish commercial property market saw a 32 per cent year-on-year decline in 2020 with total investment falling to EUR5.29 billion, the industrial sector recorded record performance, with EUR2.61 billion transacted, a 65 per cent increase year-on-year.
"Strong demand on the industrial occupier market is likely to result in rental growth in the medium to long term,” says Tomasz Buras, CEO, Savills Poland.
Property Funds World
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