A new Australian real estate fund index has shown that office-focused funds have delivered the best returns over the past 12 months.

The ANREV Australia Monthly Index, launched in January, recorded a one-year rolling return to July 2017 of 14.06% for office funds and 11.87% for all vehicles.

The AUD4.8bn Investa Commercial Property Fund (ICPF) was the top performer with a net total return of 15.25%, according to ANREV, an association for the real estate funds industry in Asia-Pacific.

Office funds benefitted from rising rents, especially in Melbourne and Sydney where there is a shortage of office space.

ICPF has high exposure to the Sydney and Melbourne office markets, and certain leases have contributed to its performance.

ANREV launched the pilot index at the beginning of the year in response for calls for reliable monthly benchmark for core, open-ended funds in Australia.

It measures total returns based on post-fee net asset values (NAV) for core, non-listed wholesale funds covering office, retail, industrial and diversified sectors.

There are 14 funds with a gross asset value of AUD69.88bn (€47bn) in the index. The NAV of the index is AUD58.03bn.

The index recorded a total return of 0.36% for July.

Alan Dalgleish, chief executive of ANREV, said: “Creation of this index is in direct response to our member GPs and LPs, who require a reliable and long-term data provider for core non-listed funds in Australia.

“In addition to our existing ANREV Quarterly Index, the Australian Monthly Index will provide monthly data for core, open-end funds in the Australian investment market, which we hope will further improve the transparency of the non-listed real estate industry.”

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