In its annual results for the year to end June, the firm said Peter Lowe will replace McBryde as lead manager on the fund from the end of 2015.
Lowe joins BMO Real Estate Partners from DTZ Investors where he worked for nine years as the manager of a number of mandates including Pearl Assurance, University Superannuation Fund and Imperial Tobacco Pension Fund, F&C said.
Lowe takes over a fund that produced a 16.7% return for the year, which is better than the 15.7% return generated by the Investment Property Databank’s UK Quarterly Index for all-property.
Results
According to McBryde, the property market was boosted by a broadening of the UK recovery into the regions and employment reaching new highs, while consumer confidence was boosted somewhat by falling food and oil prices.
He added: “The year saw a high level of investment activity, totalling more than £72 billion, which was around double the long-term average. Overseas buyers and UK institutions were the main purchasers of property during the period. Banks continued to wind down their problem loans but also were more willing to undertake new lending, alongside new entrants, for well-secured assets.”
These factors helped to boost demand for property across the board, McBryde said, but with the greatest annual gains seen for leisure and non-traditional property assets such as healthcare and student accommodation.
“Prime remained in favour but investors also looked to the regions and more secondary stock in an effort to secure assets and yield,” he said, adding: “The period saw considerable polarisation by market segment. City and West End offices, together with offices and industrials in the South East, all delivered total returns in excess of 20% over the year to June 2015.
“Rest of UK offices almost matched the UK all-property average, following a period of under-performance. Retail property delivered a reasonable performance in absolute terms but lagged behind offices and industrials.”
However, he said, while the year saw secondary stock generally out-perform prime in terms of total returns, net income growth, which is determined more by occupier fundamentals was still in decline at the secondary end in several parts of the market.
“It would appear that the investment market in some instances is running ahead of the occupational market,” McBryde said, adding that the current momentum may not be sustained over the longer term.
While the property market has delivered another strong performance, he pointed out, prime yields are currently at very low levels in relative terms and “the investment market for secondary assets seems out of kilter with the fundamentals, and development activity has started to add to supply.”
