Adviser confusion prompts AMP property offering
By Liam Egan
Indecision by financial planners over how to allocate property to client portfolios under current market conditions was a key motivator for the launch of AMP CapitalInvestors’ first open-ended unlisted property fund for the retail market.
The Core Property Fund, which AMP intends to distribute through platforms, combines three property asset classes.
The fund will target a 50 per cent exposure to unlisted property and 25 per cent each to domestic and global listed property securities.
Exposure to direct property will be predominantly via AMP’s wholesale funds, the AMP Shopping Centre Fund and the AMP Wholesale Office Fund.
The balance of the fund’s investment will be via Australian listed property trusts through the Barclays Property Securities Index Fund and the AMP Capital Global Property Securities Fund.
AMP Capital Investors head of property funds management Andrew Bennett said “some advisers are unsure how to allocate to global property securities and also how to access that illiquid component of a client’s direct portfolio”.
“Advisers are wondering whether to be active or passive in terms of risk profile in Australian listed property, the dynamics of which have changed quite dramatically over the past 12 to 14 months despite having had strong returns.
“We’ve also seen a lot of global securities funds come to market, which has added to the confusion.”
The fund’s performance benchmark is the weighted return of three indices — the Mercer Unlisted Property Index, S&P/ASX 300 Property Accumulation Index and the UBS Global Real Estate Investors Index.
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