European fund returns reflect currency and leverage effects: IPD

The European real estate funds held by institutional investors delivered negative euro returns for the year to June 2009 of -24.5%, as measured by the IPD European Pooled Property Fund Indices (e-PPFI).

In the first ever half-year measure of institutional European unlisted pooled funds, IPD has captured an even larger sample than the e-PPFI to December 2008, reporting the NAV-based total return of 216 predominantly core and value-added funds representing a total NAV of EUR 59.8 bn. The all balanced and all specialist funds delivered returns of -20.3% and -29.1%, respectively.

'Returns from European pooled funds reflect a mix of underlying direct property market performance, currency movements and leverage,' said Cameron McVean, head of Fund Services at IPD. 'Two of these key drivers have changed directions since the New Year and these changes go a long way to explain the euro-denominated -24.5% total return: firstly, a slow reversal in underlying direct property market value movements and, secondly, a modest strengthening of sterling relative to the euro.'

Across the database, the spread of returns varied considerably - the performance for the 10th and 90th percentiles were -50.8% and +4.6%, respectively. Fund leverage explains much of the difference in performance between balanced and specialist funds, with their average gross loan-to-value ratios standing at 29.1% and 44.2%, respectively.

In respect of geographic-focused funds, institutional funds which predominantly invest in France delivered the best returns over the 12-month period under review, at -1.5%, followed by German-focused funds, which delivered -3.9%. Pan-European funds delivered -11.1%, while at the other end of the spectrum UK-focused funds delivered -38.9%, although virtually all of this negative return relates to the second half of 2008.