EUROPE - Real estate data firm IPD's research chief Mark Callender has quit to join Schroders as head of international property research.

Callender has been IPD's research director since 2001 and has 19 years' experience in the property industry. He will join Schroders at the end of March 2006.

IPD - whose future was recently secured following a cash injection from a group of investors - said his replacement has not yet been decided.

Earlier this month Schroders made another senior hire from the real estate industry with the appointment of former Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker partner Henrietta Jowitt as head of marketing and communications. And property inflows were a highlight of its third-quarter trading statement.

The firm has also hired Alexandra Krystalogianni from Property Market Analysis as head of international property forecasting. She previously worked for worked for CB Richard Ellis/CB Hillier Parker.

The appointments follow the arrival of Neil Turner as head of international property investment and research from Swedish pensions firm Alecta in June.

“Our objective is to be at the forefront of investment thinking in Europe,” said Schroders property head William Hill. “Mark and Alex are highly experienced and respected in their fields and their recruitment is a statement of intent to expand our UK base internationally.”'

Schroders manages property funds totalling around £6.4bn (€9.3bn).