The pace of withdrawals from UK commercial property funds has accelerated rapidly since the government’s mini-Budget last month.
More than £100m was pulled from a sample of property funds tracked by Calastone, a fund trading provider, in the 10 days after the announcement. That is almost eight times the volume withdrawn over the previous three weeks.
Analysts have warned that consistent withdrawals by investors will force funds to jettison assets, dragging prices down further.
“One way or another, those assets are going to have to be sold into a down market,” said Zac Gauge, head of European real estate strategy at UBS.
Gauge and other property analysts expect sales completed today to be at values 20% to 25% lower than they were earlier this year.