Property investment group Paramount Property Fund has emerged from a difficult trading environment with an 8% increase in its distribution, but has hinted at more hardship ahead.

PROPERTY investment group Paramount Property Fund has emerged from a difficult trading environment with an 8% increase in its distribution, but has hinted at more hardship ahead.

Paramount Property Fund (Paraprop) has announced the acquisition of 13 commercial properties to the value of R161 million.

PROPERTY loan stock company Paramount Properties has budgeted for an 8% improvement in distributions to 86,4c a linked unit for the current financial year, going against general expectations of flat distributions in the listed property sector.

Real estate has a bad name amongst most portfolio investors. Yet few realise that listed property trusts performed on a par with equity over the past ten years (14,5% p.a.) and outperformed financial & industrial shares by a wide margin over the past three years (27% p.a. vs 5%), says Erwin Rode of Rode & Associates, property economists and valuers.

NEW life is being breathed into the listed property stocks sector which is vying with cash and bonds for investors' attention. Bruce Kerswill, Director of Cape Town based Spire Property Services which brought the Paramount Property Fund Limited (Paraprop) to the JSE Securities Exchange earlier this month, says the property sector is fast regaining its popularity as an investment class.

PARAMOUNT Property Fund on the Acquisition Trail Paramount Property Fund (Paraprop), listed on the JSE Securities exchange earlier this year and rated one of South Africa's top property funds, is on the acquisition trail to boost its portfolio of properties to R1-billion by end October.

Fund managers do not expect earnings growth; period of consolidation.