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  • 1 min

Brutal adjustment on property funds in the UK

  • 7 July 2016
  • Philippe Waechter
  • Bank of England
  • Brexit
  • Property funds
  • Real Estate
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The logic behind the brutal adjustment on property funds in the UK is quit simple.
For non resident investors, the deep depreciation of the sterling has led to lower or negative returns. At the same time the UK economic and financial environment appears gloomy and uncertain creating incentives to limit portfolio exposure to assets of this country.
The property market is a market with low liquidity even in normal time. It takes time to sell an asset; that’s a major characteristic of this market. When there are massive flows of redemption this low liquidity vanishes. What is new, is that the environment and expectations are gloomy, therefore nobody wants to invest in this type of asset. It’s even harder on this market as prices are already very high. What could be the return for a new buyer? That’s the important question. Clearly the answer is probably negative and nobody wants to take this type of risks.
Therefore property funds are not able to manage the flow of redemptions. By definition this market has low  liquidity. In the current environment this liquidity has vanished. The mechanism of adjustment is blocked: lots of sellers but no buyers. That’s what we’ve seen in recent days.
There are two options: one is to let the invisible hand in an environment in which the currency will continue to drop (see here). The possibility of a run is not null in that case. It will be the role of the central bank to intervene. The Bank of England is more proactive after the Brexit and it will have to continue.

Related Topics
  • Bank of England
  • Brexit
  • Property funds
  • Real Estate
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