Strong rebound in inflow to unlisted real estate investment funds in the first quarter of 2019
ASPIM and the IEIF are publishing the figures regarding the market for SCPI yield fund shares (not including fiscal SCPIs) and "retail" OPCIs for the first quarter of 2019.
These two types of unlisted real estate funds collected 2.6 billion € during the first quarter of 2019. which was a rise of 62% compared to the first quarter of last year.
By collecting a little over 2 billion €, the SCPIs have re-established an exceptional level of inflow, just a little less than the record level of the first quarter of 2017 (2.4 billion €).
After a noticeable slowdown in income in 2018, during the first quarter of 2019 unlisted real estate enjoyed a strong upturn in interest from investors comforted by the receding prospect of a future rise in interest rates and who were conscious of the healthy state of different rental markets. and in particular that of offices. Moreover, the fall in financial markets which continued until the end of 2018 also contributed towards the dynamics in investments in the unlisted sector.
On 31 March 2019 the total capitalisation of funds was 70.32 billion €.,which was a progress of 4.7% over the quarter and of 15% over the year.
Net inflow
• Yield fund SCPIs
SCPI saw an inflow of 2.085 billion € in the first quarter of 2019, a rise of 79% when compared to the first quarter of 2018. SCPIs invested in offices took in 1.2 billion € (+104% year to year) thereby matching the record for the first quarter of 2017. Then come the diversified SCPIs which realised 389 million € (+71% over a year), the specialised SCPIs which received 284.6 million € (+77% sur un an) and SCPIs invested in shops at 197 million € (+24% year to year). SCPIs invested in residential property (non fiscal) complete the inflow with 8.4 million € ( -70% over a year).
• "Retail" OPCIs
"Retail" OPCIs basically distribute investment through life insurance contracts and they registered a total of 5425 million € in net subscriptions in the first three months of the year (+18% when compared to the first quarter of 2018).
Investments
SCPIs made 1.6 billion € worth of acquisitions during the first quarter. Offices represented 61% of the sums invested in value. Among the other "traditional" assets in commercial real estate, shops and logistics each represented 8% of acquisitions, coming before business premises (7%) and industrial premises (2.5%). So called "alternative" real estate assets represented 12% of acquisitions of which nearly 8% was in the hotel/leisure sector, 3% in health centres and 1% for serviced residences. Residential real estate only represented 1% of sums invested.
Regarding localisation, the Paris area saw a concentration of 46.1% of acquisitions. of which 12.7% was in Paris and 33.3% in the rest of the Paris region. Other French regions drew 20.25% of capital. 33.7% of investments were made abroad (of which 24.7% were invested in Germany).
Moreover, SCPIs arbitrated for 308 million € worth of assets. Transfers during the first quarter mainly concerned offices (91%) and assets located in the area outside Paris (64.3%).
Capitalisation
• SCPIs
The capitalisation of SCPIs (not including fiscal SCPIs) rose to 54.31 billion € by 31 March 2019, a rise of 4.4% over the quarter and 14% year on year.
• "Retail" OPCIs
The net assets of the 18 "retail" OPCIs climbed to 16 billion € on 31 March 2019 which is an increase of 5.9% over the quarter and 18.4% over the year.
Secondary market
The value of shares exchanged on the secondary market in the first quarter of 2019 rose to 252.5 million € which is 0.46 % of the capitalisation of yield SCPIs.
Performances
- SCPI yield funds
According to the EDHEC IEIF Commercial Real Estate France index the global performance of commercial real estate SCPIs on 31 March 2019 finished at +5.6% compared year on year. This global performance is made up of a current yield of +4.5% and an upward revaluation of shares of +1.1%
- "Retail" OPCIs
According to the IEIF Retail OPCI index the overall performance over one year settled at +2.9% for the first quarter of 2019, which included +1.3% of current yield and +1.6% of appreciation. The strong rebound of European listed real estate (+14.8% for the first quarter of 2019) is the main reason for the rapid upturn in global performance which had reached a low point in the fourth quarter of 2018 (+0.8% of global performance over one year).
Frédéric Bôl ASPIM Chairman says: "We really can congratulate ourselves on the significant rally in the unlisted real estate investment funds inflow. This demonstrates once again the professionalism of the managers and the distributors who have known how to retain investors' trust despite new regulatory constraints (MIF2, PRIIPs) which are forcing a less intuitive presentation of our products. The profession has shown its great capacity for adaptation and for teaching skills. We are optimistic about the fact that this upward trend will be maintained throughout the whole year."