"The Portfolio strategy of UK Property Companies. "Style" Analysis and Portfolio Performance"

The paper is concerned with a study of the property portfolio strategies of a selection of the major property companies in the U.K. An asset class factor model, namely return-based style analysis (RBSA) is used to measure the exposures of each component of a portfolio in relation to its returns. Total returns from ten listed property companies, based on their share movements were used to estimate the style exposures of three commercially based property types ñ retail, office and industrial. Data on quarterly share price movements for a twelve-year period were taken and this study examined the relationship of the return for the three commercial property types to each portfolio. The effective portfolio allocations that are derived by RBSA are then compared to the actual average portfolio allocation of the property companies. RBSA is seen as a particularly effective tool in the explanation of the returns of property companies pursuing growth or income strategies.