Canada Life has lifted the suspension of redemptions on the Canlife UK Property life and pension funds as of 1 September 2016.
The firm blocked withdrawals on 6 July 2016, citing market instability and the rise in redemption requests in the wake of the Brexit vote.
'We have had two month-end pricing valuations since the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union and our decision to defer requests to withdraw investment in the property funds,'said David Marchant, chief investment officer of Canada Life. 'Real estate investment and occupational transaction activity has been subdued in that time, and the market outlook remains unclear,' he added.
Canada Life said that though conditions in the commercial property market show some stabilisation, property valuations continue to be subject to some uncertainty due to the unknown impact of the UK referendum vote.
It said it would continue to apply a fair value adjustment on property values in the fund and monitor this on a weekly basis. Currently, the adjustment is -7% across all £450 mln of Canada Life's property funds.
Other funds which applied value adjustments - such as Kames, L&G and Aberdeen - have since softened their terms, although many still remain closed to redemptions, including Aviva, which recently warned that its UK property suspension might last into 2017.
BlackRock also announced reductions in its redemption charges this week from 5.83% to 5.44%, stating that it would continue to monitor this on a monthly basis.
'Our external valuers continue to impose a caution to the accuracy of values in the lack of market transparency,' concluded Marchant. 'However, we have been closely monitoring cash flows within the fund and, following the successful completion of two real estate sales during August, liquidity has been improved to a level which we expect can meet redemption requests and ongoing liquidity requirements.'
