(Adds quote, detail, Columbia Threadneedle)
LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - British property funds which have
started trading again after a six-month freeze saw 336 million
pounds ($434.41 million) in net outflows in October, the third
worst monthly performance on record for the sector, fund network
Calastone said on Tuesday.
Much of the 70 billion pound UK property fund sector was
suspended in March after surveyors said it was not possible to
be sure about valuations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several asset managers, including Columbia Threadneedle, St
James's Place, Legal & General and BlackRock
, have reopened their funds in recent weeks, as that
valuation uncertainty eased in September.
"Now that so many property funds have reopened for
business, the big redemptions are simply a shake-out, as those
investors wanting out of real estate assets finally have an
opportunity to retrieve their capital," said Edward Glyn, head
of global markets at Calastone.
Calastone said the sector had only seen more monthly
outflows on two previous occasions - Dec 2019 and Dec 2018.
The value of sell orders was eight times higher than buy
orders in October, it said.
The previous low point for buy orders was in July 2016, a
month after Britain voted to leave the European Union, when sell
orders outnumbered buy orders by five to one.
"More redemptions are likely until the pent-up appetite to
sell has been sated," Glyn said.
Calastone did not name any of the real estate funds it
tracked. More than two-thirds of UK-domiciled fund flows by
value cross its network each month.
Columbia Threadneedle, which reopened its fund in
mid-September, said it saw 74 million pounds in net outflows in
September. The Threadneedle UK Property Authorised Investment
Fund has 940 million pounds in assets under management,
according to Morningstar.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Sinead Cruise)
Legal & General (LGEN)
St James's Place (STJ)
