London-focused property company Capital & Counties Properties acquires the freehold interest of Tower House in the Covent Garden precinct for R1.1bn before purchaser's costs.

JSE’s largest real estate investment trust‚ Intu Properties‚ records 6% growth in earnings a share over the first six months of this year‚ pleasing the market.

Capital & Counties Properties may well have appeared fully priced after the stock had more than doubled in the previous two years, but it continues to defy gravity.

Listed property prices have seen a rapid correction over the past two weeks, although analysts say this provides opportunities for both investors and companies themselves.

Investors may still be wary of exposure to government-tenanted buildings after a number of public works leasing scandals hit the headlines last year.

Although commercial property pundits do not expect a crash in the sector following the industry’s strong run‚ some form of a correction could occur given a bond market that is unlikely to strengthen further.

The share price of Intu Properties, the UK’s biggest mall owner, has been under pressure in recent weeks, creating a buying opportunity for investors looking for offshore diversification.

Although listed property shares have underperformed equities in general since the start of this month, their year-to-date return of -6,9% compares favourably with the -10,4% return on equitie

Equity index provider MSCI Barra has announced that it will be adding South African real estate company Growthpoint Properties Limited to the MSCI Emerging Markets stock index

Every listed property fund that has reported results so far this year has managed to raise income payouts by more than 10%. That suggests that the commercial property market - unlike its residential counterpart - still has some steam left