Investor interest in property unit trusts, loan stocks

Durban - SA Retail Properties had outperformed the property loan stock index on a price basis by 10.5 percent since the start of the year, James Templeton, a property analyst at Barnard Jacobs Mellet (BJM), said yesterday.

DURBAN ApexHi Properties has acquired Maritzburg-based retail development Capital Centre for R20m. The acquisition is in line with the property holding company's strategy of investing in high-yielding instruments.

Property unit trusts can be expected to return to growth in earnings this year and a re-rating of the sector will boost capital values by up to 10%.

Property loan stock (PLS) company Pangbourne will soon move some prime properties into iFour, the PLS of which it bought 33% earlier this month. This could push iFour's holdings above R1bn.

The value gap between listed property and directly held property is narrowing, says the latest property report by consulting group Rode.

PROPERTY investment group Hyprop has scooped The Mall of Rosebank and JHI House, beating two other contenders to the two jewels in the portfolio of property unit trust Cenprop.

DURBAN Property unit trust Martprop Property Fund anticipated finalising deals worth R150m within the next month and was actively seeking acquisitions while the market offered good values, MD Roger Perkin said yesterday.

Concor has trebled earnings for the six months to the end of December, with attributable earnings swelling from R3.1m to R9.6m.

Durban - Tenders for the sale of the property portfolio of Commercial Finance Company (CFC) began yesterday as part of the group's third phase in selling its assets, said John Swain, the managing director.