Five reasons to back UK property funds in 2014

Chris Urwin, global research manager for real estate at Aviva Investors, has listed five reasons he expects UK real estate to outperform over the next two years.

Last year UK property saw total returns of 10.9%, according to the UK IPD Property Total Returns index. The IPD Consensus Forecast predicted an average total return for UK commercial property of 9.3% in 2014 and 8.5% in 2015, but Urwin's prediction for the UK property sector as a whole is a 15% return this year and 12% the following year Here are the five factors behind his bullish forecast for the asset class: 1. Strong economic outlook Earlier this month, the Bank of England raised its GDP growth forecast from 2.8% to 3.4% - the fourth consecutive upward revision - and unemplo...