Property funds lose £1.1bn despite Covid suspensions

Stores closed at Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast. Property funds have suffered as hotels and shops suspended trading
Stores closed at Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast. Property funds have suffered as hotels and shops suspended trading
LIAM MCBURNEY/PA

Property funds suffered £1.1 billion of outflows last year, despite many of the biggest suspending dealing for months as the pandemic took hold.

Investors who had been prevented from withdrawing funds rushed for the exit later in the year, according to Calastone, a fund network.

Outflows hit £315 million in October, the third-worst month on record, and fell to £263 million in November and £224 million in December.

Funds holding nearly £12 billion worth of offices, hotels, shops and warehouses halted trading in March as government pandemic restrictions increased uncertainty over rent collection and property valuations.

They began to reopen after a forum of property valuers organised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that there was sufficient market activity to recommend a removal