The Asset Allocator carrier pigeon made its way through the fog to bring forth the latest update from David Hambidge, director of multi-manager funds at Premier Miton.
The Guildford-based outfit has taken the view that negativity towards commercial property in the UK may have seen "the baby thrown out with the bathwater" and so they have been increasing their allocation to this area.
Their focus, perhaps unsurprisingly, is on the less economically sensitive areas of the commercial property market.
Our database shows the average exposure to commercial property funds among the allocators we cover was 5.1 per cent at the end of December, drifting down from a peak of 5.8 per cent earlier in the year.
The other area Hambidge has been finding attractive on a valuation basis is fixed income. He says: "The rout in fixed income last year has resulted in large parts of the government and corporate bond market moving from being uninvestable to relatively attractive, with yields in the fourth quarter higher than they have been for over a decade.
"Many companies appear to have taken advantage of the ultra low interest rates available post the pandemic to lock in financing at very attractive rates.
"As a result, we believe that while we will see a pick up in corporate defaults in the next year or two, this will be from a very low base and should not be enough to derail what looks to have become an attractive investment opportunity."
Hambidge said investment grade corporate bonds appeared to offer the best risk/reward opportunities, despite not being as cheap as it was last autumn.
