ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evolution of the property investment and development markets during the boom years, and attempts to discover why the profits made from commercial property during this period were so high, and persisted for so long, in a competitive market with few visible barriers to entry. The property boom years saw a substantial rise in the level of both direct institutional investment in property and the provision of development finance. The boom was based on institutional finance and individual talent. In contrast to the immediate post-war years the decade from 1955 saw an unprecedented boom in construction activity, as the imbalance between the supply and demand for commercial property was finally corrected. Most insurance company investment managers were actuaries, trained in stock exchange investment but having little formal knowledge of the property market, which many of them regarded with some distrust.
