UK REITS have retreated 3% over the past week as the Greek crisis
and the consequent volatility in bond markets intensifies.
Looking back over the past month, property company values have
fallen even further. The FTSE UK REIT Index is down 6.65% in spite of a
positive round of financial results and data indicating a post-election bounce
in capital values. Over the same period, the FTSE All-Share has fallen 3.8%.
The sell-off has prompted some analysts to suggest that the sector
now looks undervalued.
“Sometimes we feel more like bond yield analysts than property
analysts,” said JP Morgan analyst Tim Leckie last week. “But pricing of UK
REITs in particular is getting pretty cheap, in our view, as the market digests
concerns about bond yields.”