The latest batch of Investment Association numbers shows that Property with net retail sales of £269 million was the second only to the usual suspect at the top UK Equity Income in terms of inflows for May.
Of the top ten funds by inflows two are property funds, a notable achievement given the size of the asset class relative to equities, which typically dominates the top ten.
Greece is not the only macro risk brewing at the moment of course. Other leading contenders for inclusion in the current wall of worry are the imminent rise in the Federal Reserve base rate, geopolitical turmoil around Russia’s aggressive stance and events in the Middle East.
Investors seemed to have gone for the classic buy on recent good performance in May, with the asset class as a whole starting to slide downwards at a not inconsiderable rate after a strong bull run since October 2014.
American REITs have already reacted badly to the imminent nature of the first Fed rate rise since the crisis, so why should UK property funds or stocks be different? The Fed rate rise on its own could be enough to spook UK property investors soon and a Bank of England rise is not a long way off either.
