Investment Property Down Under

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

DIRECT property returns continue to tumble across Europe, and rental contraction in the office and industrial sectors in Britain is adding to property market woes, the Investment Property Databank survey has found.

In its British monthly results to last month IPD's index showed all property total returns fell to minus 3.8 per cent.

Last month's results were more negative than those for last December, making it the weakest month on record. Commercial property capital values in Britain have plummeted by the largest monthly figure in IPD's 22-year history, minus 4.3 per cent.

This is more bad news for the Australian real estate investment trusts with exposure to British and European property markets.

Jonathan Kriska, an analyst at the financial services company Patersons, said the latest International Monetary Fund report forecast global growth to slow from 5 per cent last year to 2 per cent next year.

He said several Australian REITs had large exposures to European property.