August 2008 - The Significance of Property in Superannuation Funds
Date: 13/08/2008
Superannuation funds in Australia had $1.2 trillion in total assets at December 2007 having grown significantly from only $245 billion in 1996, with property being an important asset class within the asset allocation process by these superannuation funds. This includes both direct property and listed property. This growth has also been characterised by the growth in the various types of superannuation funds including corporate funds, industry-based funds, public sector funds and retail funds. To further highlight this recent growth in superannuation fund assets, these assets have grown by 29% over Q2: 2006 – Q4: 2007 and by 115% over Q2: 2003 – Q4: 2007. This superannuation environment has also been characterised by a reduced number of superannuation funds in all sectors. This has resulted in a smaller number of much larger superannuation funds; with significant implications for superannuation fund investment strategies for all asset classes, including property.

July 2008 - Are the wheels falling off?
Date: 11/07/2008
The evidence seems overwhelming if not compelling. The All Ordinaries Index on the Australian Securities Exchange has just registered its worst financial year performance in 26 years, the worst first half calendar year for 24 years, its worst June since World War II. Among all this, the market’s worst performer was the property sector’s own Centro Properties Group at -97%.

June 2008 - Growth despite the pain – the numbers are in
Date: 17/06/2008
Total gross funds under management in the Australian securitised property funds management industry have continued to increase in the past 12 months, from last years’ $356 billion to $419 billion, according to the definitive 2008 PIR Property Funds Industry Survey (seventh edition), released on 28th May. This represents a rate of growth of 17.6%, more or less consistent with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7% since the first PIR Survey in 2000. It was almost exactly 12 months ago that PIR was on record predicting that in 2008 the result of this Survey would show a total gross funds under management figure of “close to $420 billion”.

May 2008 - The credit crunch: death knell or starting bell for the listed real estate sector?
Date: 12/05/2008
International news headlines have been dominated in recent months by the “credit crunch” affecting international financial markets. Against this backdrop, this article seeks to review some of the events which have led up to the current market situation, the ways in which this can and will feed into the underlying economy and what this means for the listed real estate sector globally.

April 2008 - Reporting Season Wrap-up
Date: 09/04/2008
The December reporting season has confirmed some performance dilapidation among the A-REITs which as a result have come under greater scrutiny and been treated more harshly by investors and observers alike. In this edition, we take a look at some of the performances of note and we scrutinise the reported debt metrics revealed during the reporting season.

March 2008 - Is the Property Party Over in Australia too?
Date: 18/03/2008
Portents indicate that there is a paralysis spreading through the global financial sector which, as a result of more stringent credit conditions, is adversely impacting on property values - residential, commercial and industrial. The key local question is the extent to which this will affect Australia. We are now out of step with the US and UK where their official monetary policy action is to lower interest rates to try and stave off a recession and/or a severe decline in financial asset prices.

February 2008 - 2008 Preview of A-REITs
Date: 14/02/2008
This month we seek to point out the main pros and cons of selected A-REITs (Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts) within our research universe that we consider are relatively well placed to weather the negative economic storms and those at the other end of the risk spectrum, the ones we believe are the most risky. By doing this we aim to illustrate the factors that affect risk, as we expect the market will be paying close attention to these factors at least in the short term, in light of the current conditions which we believe have made the markets more risk aware.

December 2007 - G-REITs within an expanding Global REIT universe (Part 2)
Date: 19/12/2007
Part 1 of Fraser Hughes' article on G-REITs (published in the November issue of PIR's Investment Monitor) explored how the current global REITs market evolved and compared the current regimes, looking also at the top 15 real estate markets. It also began to examine the G-REIT structure in more detail, with the conclusion of which follows in this month's editorial - Trading of residential portfolios; Potential for Growth and Summary.

November 2007 - G-REITs within an expanding Global REIT universe (Part 1)
Date: 09/11/2007
The first Real Estate Investment Trust was introduced in the United States in 1960. However, it was not until the early 1990s that the US REIT gained momentum. The catalyst was the introduction of the (umbrella partnership REIT) structure providing real estate owners with the ability to transfer properties into an UP-REIT structure and defer capital gains. In Europe, the Netherlands was the first country to introduce its version of the REIT structure - Fiscale Beleggings Instellingen (FBI) in 1969. In the Asia-Pacific region Australia led the way with the launch of its Listed Property Trust (LPT) regime in 1981.

October 2007 - Overview of Australian Listed REITs - FY07
Date: 11/10/2007
The S&P/ASX 200 Property Trust Accumulation Index (The 200 Index) performed well in FY07 with a total return (yield and capital) of 25.9% [26.3% for the S&P/ASX 300 Property Trust Accumulation Index (300 Index]); a good performance despite its underperformance to the All Ords (30.28% total return), with some standouts during the period. Within PIR's coverage, Hotel and Leisure was the best-performing sub-sector in FY07 period (and for the year to 30 September 2007) on a total returns basis with Thakral Holdings Group (THG) the primary contributor achieving a total return of 57% over FY07.

September 2007 - Houses, Hedges and Haircuts (Part 2)
Date: 13/09/2007
Houses, Hedges and Haircuts - Part 2 In Part 1, we discussed the background to the sub prime debt debacle. In the ensuring month we have witnessed a very high degree of volatility in both the debt and equity markets. The key question posted in Part 1 was whether global debt markets were undertaking a re-pricing of credit to more appropriately reflect the inherent risk in highly leveraged assets or whether a credit crunch was unfolding. Events of the past month indicate that both forces are at work. Market reaction in the US markets primarily manifested as a credit crunch - no major securitised debt funding appears to have been completed in the US in August.

August 2007 - Houses, Hedges and Haircuts (Part 1)
Date: 15/08/2007
The securitisation world has been changed. The ready availability of seemingly unlimited cheap credit has evaporated. As the requirements on mortgages in the US get tougher and the sub-prime market continues to haemorrhage; banks are likely to severely curtail lending to hedge funds and private equity firms. Unlike a stock market bubble, the housing bubble has a more potent mix and is potentially more dangerous in the effect on both the US and global economies.

July 2007 - Market drivers in the REIT sector - Supply, demand and fundamentals under scrutiny
Date: 10/07/2007
Boomer generation investors are the accredited drivers of the expanding investment market, on both retail and wholesale platforms. It is an irony that Boomers should be least comfortable with the prevailing yield structure. Is the intervention through super incentives and pressure to invest shifting the demand curve for listed property beyond and equilibrium price that reflects total return in the physical market and is the margin above bonds in the direct property market shrinking beneath prudential levels?

June 2007 - Excess Capital a.k.a. Golden Handcuffs
Date: 19/06/2007
The term 'Golden Handcuffs' was originally coined for Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) which are used in order to retain high performing employees. Effectively high performance provided higher benefits but you had to pledge your alliance with your wallet. It can be argued that investors are suffering (or benefiting) from a similar problem. The central banks' pin-point focus on inflation numbers has coincided with interest rates across the globe remaining lower than the long-term average and has resulted in subdued volatility.