Fund stops investor withdrawals

Commercial property can take a long time to sell

A rush to withdraw money from its commercial property funds has forced Scottish Equitable to introduce delays of up to 12 months for its customers.

It affects investors in the Scottish Equitable Property fund, Select Reserve fund and Select Distribution fund.

Aegon UK, which runs the fund, blames the rush to the exits on concerns about the US sub-prime mortgage collapse, recession worries and interest rates.

Friends Provident took the same action with its property fund last month.

Regular income payments, retirements and death claims will not be affected.

We expect prices in the sector to continue to retreat over the course of 2008 Simon Rubinsohn, RICS

As real estate can take months to sell, property funds keep a proportion of their assets in cash to pay any investors who want to leave.

But if unexpectedly large numbers of investors want to withdraw their money the fund can be forced into selling property cheaply because they need a quick sale.

Weak outlook

"The level of withdrawals from our property funds has reached the stage where we now have to sell properties to raise cash to meet the requests for payments out," the company confirmed.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) confirmed the weak outlook for commercial property.

"We expect prices in the sector to continue to retreat over the course of 2008 as investors adopt a more cautious stance," said its chief economist Simon Rubinsohn.

But he added that there is little chance of a crash.

"Crucially, occupier demand for property still remains firm and while the economy is set to slow, there are few signs of the recession that would undermine this vital prop for the market."

Scottish Equitable, which was founded in 1831, has its headquarters in Edinburgh.