Jason Baggaley, the veteran manager of the £463m Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust, has said the post-Brexit vote uncertainty that blighted the UK commercial property market has receded, with “normality” having returned.
He was commenting in the context of the half-year results of the trust, published this morning (31 August).
The trust returned 6.03 per cent in the first six months of the year to 30 June, compared with a return of 8.24 per cent for the AIC UK Direct Property sector.
The trust has a current yield of 5.4 per cent and trades on a 7.7 per cent premium to net assets.
Mr Baggaley said: “In relation to the UK real estate market, normality has returned following the volatility experienced after the EU referendum “
He presently has no capital invested in prime London property, as he believes that is likely to be the market where volatility is most marked in the years ahead.
He said the likely impact of the vote to leave the EU will ensure that the City of London is a weak market, due to its reliance on financial services.
Instead, he is focused on industrial property and office blocks, deploying £142m of capital into such assets in the first six months of this year.
Industrial property accounts for 47 per cent of the capital of the trust, with 29 per cent in office buildings outside the City of London.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
