Friends Provident locks exit from £1.2bn property fund

[xoggoth]

I had 50% of of one my pension funds in that until recently. Timed it right for a change.

[Signo_cypher]

Changing market

Things are definitely changing in the market place. I'm in the process of trying to buy a property and the valuation from the bank is £13,000 less than the asking price. Seller is seriously not happy!! Thing is he wont even meet half way on the difference. He is adamant the property is worth the initial asking price. Looks like he may need a reality check.

[tim123]

What's having a Masters in finance got to do with anything connected with house prices.

What you need is a masters in Crystal Ball gazing.

I also got out and now have my money in cash. Renting was cheaper than buying, so I rented.

Not sure what the pound will do on global markets, but currently I am somewhat protected from that by being paid in Euro.

But I wouldn't go near the housing market, in any country, for at least 3 years.

tim

[TimberWolf]

What you need is a masters in Crystal Ball gazing

I havn't got one of those, so second best will have to do

But I agree with the sentiment.

[AtW]

What's having a Masters in finance got to do with anything connected with house prices.

I got MSc in Real Estate, no tulips

[IR35 Avoider]

Hang on, the original post (which I only skimmed) was about a property fund, these only invest in commercial property, and that is a completely different asset class from residential property, which they don't invest in. Every post in this thread has been on a completely different subject to the one that set it off.

(OK, the subprime crisis may affect both, but (like interest rates) that's a factor that affects everything, so that's hardly an argument for saying the two have something in common.)

[ratewhore]

Hang on, the original post (which I only skimmed) was about a property fund, these only invest in commercial property, and that is a completely different asset class from residential property, which they don't invest in. Every post in this thread has been on a completely different subject to the one that set it off.

yours included...

[IR35 Avoider]

And now that I've hopefully got the topic back on course...

I've been almost entirely invested in commercial property since forever. In the late summer I got out of unitised property funds, where most of my money was. In total I am currently seeing 10% loss on the peak value of my investments, though almost all of that loss occurred in the closed-end funds I invested in via my ISA. Following the 40%-in-one-month crash in closed-end funds I'm shifting my money that was in unitised funds into closed-end property funds.

I measure my investments by the annual income I think I can safely take from them, not their capital value. Although capital values are down 10% from the peak, future income has risen by a third, so I see myself as actually better off now.

AtW makes a good point, that the crash in closed end funds might simply be a predictor of what is going to happen to underlying property valuations in the near future. However, given that what I care about is the rental income stream, which is more or less guaranteed for the several years a typical lease has left on it, I figure I don't care what happens to capital values. (I am probably kidding myself a little on that score, though.)