Commercial Property for Income Investing

Ask the Expert: Does commercial property have a place in an income portfolio, or are the liquidity risks too great?

Emma Wall 13 September, 2013 | 7:00AM
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Emma Wall: Hello and welcome to the Morningstar TV series, Ask the Expert. I’m Emma Wall and here with me today to discuss whether commercial property has a place in an income portfolio is Darius McDermott of Chelsea Financial Services.

Hello, Darius.

Darius McDermott: Hello, Emma.

Wall: So, commercial property very popular at the moment, but does it have a place in an income portfolio?

McDermott: I mean, it does. Commercial property is generally yielding assets; you rent the buildings out and people pay you rent, and that rent can then go into a property fund and pay an income out. So, it is quite a nice diversifier of income. Also commercial property values appear to have bottomed and commercial property funds, once offering a particularly high income, are now offering around between 3% and 4.5%, so a nice income diversifier, as well as an asset diversifier.

Wall: Of course, there are risks – people had losses in 2008.

McDermott: Yes, I mean, during the big financial crisis in 2008, commercial property values plummeted. The thing is, from a liquidity point of view, you can't just go and sell a building. So, what investors were forced to do is actually leave their money in certain funds that's called gating or closing of the fund.

So, people who do invest in commercial property for income need to be aware that if things go bad, that they may not be able to get their capital out when they want to. So that is a bit of a warning, but quite nice from a diversification point of view. I suppose with the U.K. economy recovering, we don't see any imminent threats to commercial property.

Wall: I suppose then the answer is, if you do want the diversification is to minimize that risks by only having it as a small proportion of your portfolio.

McDermott: Yes. We certainly wouldn’t say to have a big weighting, but from an income point of view 5% or 10% would seem perfectly sensible. You can go down a multi-asset route where somebody else is dealing with all the assets and putting it into an income portfolio, something like Jupiter Merlin Income or HSBC Open Global Distribution Fund, can hold property and get some diversification that way via a multi asset fund.

Wall: For the less cautious investor who wants that direct exposure, who would you recommend?

McDermott: We quite like Henderson UK Property. That's actually from a yield point of view; it's the highest yielding fund in the sector. It’s yielding sort of around 4.5%, which in the current climate actually is a pretty good yield, seeing as cash is yielding sort of between 0.5% and 1% at the moment, so a nice yield premium for that extra risk.

Wall: Darius, thank you very much.

McDermott: Thank you.

Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar TV. Thank you for watching.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
HSBC World Selection Div Dis Port Acc2.16 GBP-0.13Rating
Jupiter Merlin Income Portfolio L Acc355.91 GBP-0.54Rating

About Author

Emma Wall  is former Senior International Editor for Morningstar

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