ABSTRACT
The popularity of property as an investment has, over recent decades, increased or decreased depending on several factors. Varying economic conditions also dictate the amount of investment into property. The performance of property relative to equities began to improve in 1987 and this trend was accelerated by the crash on the stock market in September of that year, now generally referred to as "Black Monday". Mainly due to the relatively rapid obsolescence of industrial buildings, yields on this form of investment have always been higher than those on shops and offices. The valuation of properties in a traditional way, building-by-building, is now seen as an inadequate approach as investors are exposed to localised property markets and the wide swings of local prices. Such volatility is controlled in other investment portfolios, such as shares, and these techniques are now being introduced to commercial property portfolios.
