AMP tops property funds table

AMP Asset Management has been confirmed as the biggest manager of property in Australia, narrowly edging out Westfield Holdings.

AMP Asset Management has been confirmed as the biggest manager of property in Australia, narrowly edging out Westfield Holdings.

According to a survey of property funds by Property Investment Research (PIR), AMP manages just under $13 billion, compared to Westfield’s $12 billion. Collec-tively the two managers control more than a quarter of the property funds market.

Commonwealth comes in at number three with $9.4 billion thanks to its recent ac-quisition of Colonial while Deutsche’s recent acquisition of Paladin puts it in the number four spot with $7.2 billion under management.

AMP’s number one position in the league table comes from property assets across a number of different investment vehicles. It has about $4 billion worth of listed property trusts and $3.3 billion worth of unlisted wholesale funds. Westfield, on the other hand, has sourced all of its funds via listed property trusts.

While property fund managers now manage $95.2 billion on behalf of 800,000 in-vestors, PIR managing director Richard Cruikshank says he believes there is still huge potential for further growth in managed property funds.

Cruikshank says residential rental property still accounts for 80 per cent of private investor dollars.

“Fund managers have only just begun to penetrate their potential investor base and have the capacity to increase sales exponentially,” he says.

“The industry must demonstrate a high degree of credibility and prove both supe-rior performance and the advantages of managed investments.”

Listed property trusts continue to hold the lion’s share of the property funds mar-ket, with about $47 billion under management, compared to $13 billion for both unlisted wholesale and direct private funds.

MCS Property has emerged as the biggest property syndicate manager, holding nearly 20 per cent of the $3.3 billion sector. MCS dwarfs its two biggest rivals, Abacus Funds Management and Teys McMahon, who sit at number two and three respectively in the property syndicates league table.