Equity market woes could be positivefor property

With equity markets reaching five-year lows and demographic changes likely to lead to an increasing demand for income, the property market looks set to benefit as investors look for greater security and higher yields

Over the past 28 years, the income from gilts and equities has approximately halved, while property yields have remained constant. As a result, property has emerged as the highest-yielding asset class, with a yield gap of over 2% above gilts. Graph one includes the 1970's oil crisis, when both equity and property values crashed, and the subsequent high inflationary period, illustrated by the level of yields on gilts. It also shows how the property recession of the early 1990s lagged the 1993 equity recovery and decline in interest rates. Without this delay, it is unlikely such a differ...