LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - European commercial real estate
investors have a preference for property shares and property
funds this year and many are set to cut their allocations to
actual bricks and mortar, a major survey showed late on Tuesday.
The conference at which the survey was presented also heard
economic weakness in the United States was likely to spill over
onto mainland European property markets, where a downward
correction in property prices was less advanced than in the UK.
The survey by the European Association for Investors in
Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles — better known as INREV –
showed almost four in 10 respondents planned to reduce their
exposure to direct real estate in 2008.
In contrast, the vast majority of respondents said they
planned to increase or maintain their allocations to indirect
real estate such as offshore property funds and real estate
investment trusts.
The survey covered 112 mainly European fund managers and
investors with a combined 104 billion euros ($154.6 billion) in
real estate assets under management.
Delegates heard from a panel discussion that value was
emerging in some parts of the region’s real estate market.
