What is making investors return to UK commercial property?

Duncan Owen, head of property funds at Schroders, provides an overview of the current UK property market and suggests how to make portfolios more liquid.

There are a number of features about the UK commercial property market which currently makes it an attractive investment opportunity. First and foremost it is worth noting that the UK commercial property sector is a big market. At the end of 2011 the global property market, as an investable universe, was measured at about $11.4trn. In comparison, the measured index for the UK commercial property market is about £350bn although, when all the investible universe is included, the total value is actually closer to £600bn.  It is also a simple and hybrid asset class with a number of charac...