Emira Property Fund has declared a total distribution for the year ended 30th June 2007 of 82,35 cents per Emira participatory interest – a 10,54% increase on the previous year

For the second year in succession Emira Property Fund has performed exceptionally well in international research house, Investment Property Databank (IPD’s), annual survey into listed property funds in South Africa

Emira Property Fund, which recently acquired smaller property loan stock company, Freestone Property Holdings Ltd, has received Board approval to spend a total of R254m on new property developments and refurbishments to existing properties over the next nine months

At present, the six Property Unit Trusts (PUTs) listed on the JSE Securities Exchange are invested in various combinations of commercial, industrial and retail property but, as yet, they have no exposure to residential property.

Listed property unit trust Emira Property Fund on Friday reported double-digit distribution growth for the six months to December in line with the rest of the listed property sector.

The Emira Property Fund has declared a distribution of 40.10 cents per participatory interest for the six months ended on the 31st December 2006 – 10% up on the comparable period in 2005.

Coming out of two months’ of relative weakness, listed property again presents good value, say leading market analysts.

From being the long-standing star sector just three months ago, listed property has taken a massive knock since interest rates were raised a few weeks ago. But while listed property unit trusts have fallen sharply down the performance tables, they could now be offering much better value.

The South African Reserve Bank Governor’s recent 0.5% hike in the repo rate has put a dampener on the local equities market, with listed property shares, and Property Unit Trusts (PUTs) in particular, among the victims.

Listed property unit trusts, which are individually listed funds consisting of a portfolio of commercial properties, outperformed the direct or fixed-property market last year, delivering a total return of 37,5% to investors.