Favourable outlook for global property mart

Favourable outlook for global property mart

BY YEOW POOI LING

KUALA LUMPUR: The outlook for the global property market is generally anticipated to remain favourable, with property equity providing at least 12% to 13% returns in the next 12 months, said Henderson Global Investors Ltd head of property equities Patrick Sumner.

The London-based fund management company has a favourable outlook for the property markets in Britain, France, Japan, Singapore and Australia.

Sumner said contrary to general perception, the property market was not at the “top of the cycle” since “we're not only talking about house prices.”

Office rental values were rising in most key markets such as New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, he said, adding that retail rents were also going up steadily.

From left: Henderson Global Investors (Singapore) Ltd managing director for Asia, Alexander Henderson, Datin Maznah Mahbob and Patrick Sumner at a media briefing on the global property outlook.
“Retail rental is not a cyclical market and shopping centres are usually owned by listed companies,” Sumner added.

The company manages some US$116bil of funds, of which US$3.5bil are in property securities.

Meanwhile, residential property was thriving in the Scandinavia, Central Europe, Japan, China and India, he said.

As the “baby boomers” generation retire, there would be growing demand for high yielding investment such as the property market, Sumner said, adding that new stock supply would be facilitated by the issuance of real estate investment trusts (REITs).

He said the fund's investment strategy was focused on total returns instead of dividend yield.

“We are on a growth trail and are aggressively pursuing companies with higher than average growth levels. We also want to take more risks in growth countries,” he said.

Henderson is partnering AmInvestment Group Bhd in offering local investors the opportunity to invest in offshore property equities.

The two funds launched this year were AmGlobal Property Equities Fund and AmAsia-Pacific Property Equities, which invest in Henderson Horizon Asia-Pacific Property Equities Fund and Henderson Horizon Global Property Equities Fund respectively.

AmInvestment funds management division chief executive officer Datin Maznah Mahbob said a third property fund, also with Henderson as a partner, would be launched next year.