History

In 2003, a joint initiative between the IPF and the IPF Educational Trust secured cross-industry support, raising over £700,000, for a three-year research programme. Funded by 16 leading organisations and businesses from across the UK property industry, this Programme provided the UK property investment market with the delivery of substantial, objective and high quality analysis on a structured basis. Early topics addressed such matters as liquidity, stock selection and risk reduction and diversification in property portfolios.

Successive IPF Research Programmes have continued to enable the entire real estate industry to engage with other financial markets and the wider business community, as well as government, on a range of complementary issues. In the 20 years since inception, over 50 major reports have been published, covering key themes of asset allocation, risk, sustainability, pricing, depreciation an examination of real estate’s role in the mixed asset portfolio.

In 2009, a Short Paper Series was launched to address current issues facing the property investment market, allowing the publication of papers on topical subjects in a shorter time-scale. Over 30 such reports and discussion papers have been produced, ranging from an examination of what happened to loans in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis to an investigation into the origins and scale of the real estate crowdfunding industry.

The following reports are the output from the IPF Research Programmes since inception. Please contact Chief Executive, Sue Forster (sforster@ipf.org.uk), if you would like to quote/use any part of a report.

catalogue of publications

Note: Short Papers are listed separately at the bottom of this list. Regular surveys and reports can be found here.

Research funded and published by the IPF Research Programme 2018-2022

• The Implementation of Long-Term Prudent Valuation Models Across the UK and Mainland Europe for Financial Regulation Purposes (March 2023)
• Turnover-based Leases Issues, Drivers and Challenges: A Survey of Current Practice (October 2021)
• Is there an Investment Case for Social and Affordable Housing in the UK? (October 2021)
• Mitigating Behavioural Influences on Decision making within the Property Investment Process (May 2021)
• Large Scale UK Residential Investment: Achieving Market Maturity (March 2021)
• Operational Real Estate: Risk and Reward (February 2021)
• Key Contributions of IPF Research to Property Investment Processes in the UK (September 2020)
• Benchmarking Real Estate Investment Performance: The Role of ESG Factors (July 2020)
• Property Ownership in a Flexible World (February 2020)
• Global Capital Flows in a World of Increasing Nationalism and Protectionism (December 2019)
   

Research funded and published by the IPF Research Programme 2015-2018:

• Long-term Value Methodologies in Commercial Real Estate Lending (July 2020)
• Implications of Retail Structural Change on Sector Allocations in Investment Portfolios (December 2019)
• Occupational Drivers of Investment Performance in the Logistics Sector (April 2019)
• Current Practices in Benchmarking Real Estate Performance (September 2018)
• Real Estate Investment in UK Defined Contribution Pension Schemes (May 2018)
• Managing Currency Risk in International Real Restate Investment (April 2018)
• Residual Land Values: Measuring Performance & Investigating Viability (April 2018)
• Costing Energy Efficiency Improvements in Existing Commercial Buildings (October 2017)
• An Investigation of Hurdle Rates in the Real Estate Investment Process (May 2017)
• The Changing Sources of Real Estate Debt Capital: Facts and Implications (May 2017)
• Real Estate Solvency II 2017 Update (March 2017)

Research funded and published by the IPF Research Programme 2011-2015:

• Unravelling Liquidity in International Commercial Real Estate Markets (March 2016)
• Individual Property Risk (July 2015)
• Liquidity Pricing of Illiquid Assets (February 2015)
• Estimating Liquidity in Real Estate Markets - Literature Review (February 2015)
• Prospects for Institutional Investment in Social Housing (February 2015)
• Time to Transact: Measurement and Drivers (September 2014)
• The Size and Structure of the UK Property Market 2013: A Decade of Change (March 2014)
• Returning to the Core: Rediscovering a Role for Real Estate in Defined Contribution Pension Schemes (October 2013)
• Modelling Causes of Rental Depreciation for UK Office and Industrial Properties (June 2013)
• The Role of Commercial Property in the UK Economy (March 2013)
• The Future of Property Forecasting (November 2012)
• Reassessing the Accuracy of UK Commercial Property Forecasts (November 2012)
• Costing Energy Efficiency Improvements in Existing Commercial Buildings (October 2012)

Research funded and published by the IPF Research Programme 2006-2009:

• Real Estate’s Role in the Mixed Asset Portfolio: A Re-examination:
  • Real Estate Returns and Financial Assets in Extreme Markets (May 2012)
  • Time Varying Influences on Real Estate Returns (April 2012)
  • Private Commercial Real Estate Returns and the Valuation Process (April 2012)
  • Real Estate Returns and Other Asset Classes: A Review of Literature (April 2012)
  • A Re-examination Summary Report (March 2012)
• Depreciation of Commercial Investment Property in the UK (November 2011)
• Property and Inflation (April 2011)
• Risk Web 2.0 An Investigation into the Causes of Portfolio Risk (March 2011)
• UK Institutional Investors: Property Allocations, Influences and Strategies (July 2010)
• Depreciation of Office Investment Property in Europe (March 2010)
• ISPI (UK): Creating a Sustainable Property Investment Index (October 2009)
• The Treatment of Covenant Strength by the UK Property Industry (August 2009)
• Urban Regeneration: Opportunities for Property Investment (August 2009)
• Greening Leases – The Landlord and Tenant Relationship as a Driver for Sustainability (August 2009)
• Demand for Sustainable Office Buildings in the UK (May 2009)
• Real Estate Investment Trusts: The US Experience and Lessons for the UK (May 2009)
• Costing Energy Efficiency Improvements in Existing Commercial Buildings (January 2009)
• Implication for the Strategic Development of UK REITs from the Experience of LPTs in Australia (April 2008)
• Retail Investor Attitudes to Commercial Property Investment (May 2008)
• Alpha and Persistence in UK Property Fund Management (April 2008)
• Risk Management in UK Property Portfolios: A Survey of Current Practice (December 2007)
• Large-scale Investor Opportunities in Residential Property: An Overview (November 2007)
• The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and Commercial Property Investment: A Situation Review (September 2007)
• The Use of Periodic Valuations in Indirect Property Investment (June 2007)

Short Paper Series – all reports are available to download free of charge from the Resource Library on the IPF website:

• Investment Implications of the Flexible Market Space (March 2023)
• Mitigating Behavioural Influences on Decision making within the Property Investment Process (May 2021)
• Large Scale UK Residential Investment: Achieving Market Maturity (March 2021)
• Key Contributions of IPF Research to Property Investment Processes in the UK (September 2020)
• Property Ownership in a Flexible World (February 2020)
• Real Estate Crowdfunding: Gimmick or Game Changer? (November 2016)
• Defining Investment Quality (January 2016)
• Emerging International Real Estate Markets (December 2015)
• UK Development Finance Review (September 2015)
• Pricing Retail Space (June 2015)
• Implications of a UK Withdrawal from the EU: A Discussion Paper (April 2015)
• What is Fair Value? (April 2015)
• What Constitutes Property for Investment Purposes? A Review of Alternative Assets (February 2015)
• A Review of Interest Rate Hedging Strategies (January 2015)
• Residential Investment in International Markets (November 2014)
• Zombies and Beyond: A Further Update on UK Real Estate Debt (September 2014)
• Implications for Property Yields of Rising Bond Yields (June 2014)
• Constructing an Effective Rental Value Index (January 2013)
• A Decade of Fund Returns (July 2012)
• Implications of the Eurozone Crisis for the UK Real Estate Market and UK Investors (June 2012)
• Institutional Attitudes to Investment in UK Residential Property (June 2012)
• The Outlook for UK CMBS (November 2011)
• Property Banking Forum: Outlook for Development Finance (October 2011)
• Property Banking Forum: Lending Intentions Survey 2011 (March 2011)
• A Review of the Current State of the UK CMBS Market (February 2011)
• Rent Reviews – Revolution or Evolution? (November 2010)
• Break Clauses – Who Holds the Risk in your Rental Income? (November 2010)
• Prepack Administrations and Company Voluntary Arrangements (February 2011)
• Real Estate Debt - an update (January 2010)
• The Evolution of the Market for Indirect Investments in Commercial Property (February 2010)
• The Robustness of Property Income (November 2009)
• Repricing Property Risk (November 2009)
• Issues in Property Investment Valuation (October 2009)
• The IPF UK Consensus Forecast and the Returns Implied by Property Derivative Pricing: Evolution, Record & Influence (August 2009)
• UK Real Estate Debt: Problem for the Borrowers and the Banks (July 2009)

In addition to the research listed, the following research projects were funded by the IPF and IPF Educational Trust Joint Research Programme (2003-2006), some with additional partnership funding:

• Planning Policy and Retail Property Market Performance in English Towns and Cities (October 2008)
• Asset Allocation in the Modern World (July 2007)
• Index Smoothing and the Volatility of UK Commercial Property (March 2007)
• Risk Reduction and Diversification in Property Portfolios (February 2007)
• Property Stock Selection: Organisation, Incentives and Information (November 2006)
• The Sustainable Property Appraisal Project (November 2006)
• Pricing Property Derivatives: An Initial Review (September 2006)
• The Investment Performance of Listed Office Buildings (May 2006)
• Institutional Investment in Regeneration: Necessary Conditions for Effective Funding (May 2006)
• Disagreement and Uncertainty in UK Property Market Forecasts (January 2006)
• Depreciation in Commercial Property Markets (July 2005)
• Investment Performance and Lease Structure Change in the UK (July 2005)
• The Size and Structure of the UK Property Market (July 2005)
• Opening the Door to Property: Assessing the Needs of Small Investors in Property (September 2004)
• Liquidity in Commercial Property Markets - Research Findings (April 2004)