The Case for Seeking Income in Property | Company Comment | Commentary | News | Hemscott

The Case for Seeking Income in Property | Company Comment | Commentary | News | Hemscott

The case for seeking income in real estate has a long and convincing history. The credit crunch put a well documented stain on this record. Between 2007 and 2009 the UK property market lost 45% of its value. A number of property investment trusts saw their net asset value drop below zero due to high degrees of leveraging, and an even larger proportion of the property securities market ceased to distribute dividends.

Since the credit crunch storm quietened, the UK property market has gradually picked up in line with the broader economy, though this process has been slow and arduous and the recovery remains fragile. To discuss the latest developments on the real estate equity front and the role of property investments in an income-focused portfolio, we spoke to Alex Moss, Head of Global Property Securities Analytics at Macquarie. The following are excerpts from this interview, in which Moss explains why he believes the UK property market is poised to return stable and modest growth of dividend yields and highlights the need to understand the liquidity of your holdings when investing in real estate securities.