Investment Property Databank is launching a benchmarking and portfolio analysis service in the US.
It has the support of seven major property investment managers, including DB RREEF, ING Clarion, JP Morgan Fleming, Morgan Stanley Real Estate, Principal Real Estate Investors and SSR Realty Advisors, which will be its initial clients.
The participants – five of which were part of a pilot study conducted last year – all run large, open-ended real estate funds, which own $20bn of US property.
The service will use data the funds are already providing to US property organisation NCREIF, and clients will receive comparisons between their performance and their peer group.
The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries is a US association of property investment professionals, which includes investment managers, academics and accountants.
It produces the NCREIF Property Index every quarter, which is used as a US industry benchmark. IPD said it hoped to become a member of NCREIF this year.
IPD now operates in 11 countries and plans to expand into Australia and South East Asia. Graham Hill, IPD chief executive, said: “This is an important step forward for IPD. Our objective is very much to be the global standard for real estate performance measurement.
“Establishing a service in the US has been a strategic priority for me since I joined IPD a year and a half ago.”
He said IPD did not intend to set itself up as a rival to NCREIF, but would instead provide a deeper level of data analysis, rather than just a simple benchmark.
“I have been delighted by the support we have had from NCREIF and the very positive responses we have received from the fund managers who agreed to participate in this service.”
ING Clarion managing director Stephen Hansen said: “We look forward to participating in the open-end fund service here in the US, with the expectation that we can enhance our fund performance.”
IPD’s service will be managed by Simon Mallinson, who has been with IPD for six years and has now been appointed head of US services.
The service will initially be run from London.
