- October was a tough month for investors globally with equity indices down between -5% and -10%, driven by concerns over higher interest rates and declining global growth. In this broad-based market correction, listed property held up relatively well with the ASX200 A-REIT declining “only” -3.1%, far better than the ASX 200 that fell-6.1%.
- The Atlas High Income Property Fund declined by -2.4% in October, with share price falls were cushioned by gains in the value of the put options owned by the Fund and the position in SCA Property (+7%) that defied the prevailing market gloom.
- October was a month where fear was the dominant emotion and the market ignored some very positive quarterly updates from the retail and office trusts which showed sales growth in the nation’s shopping centres and strong demand for office space. Indeed GPT (-1%) declined despite the trust upgrading profit and distribution guidance for the year.
Go to Monthly Newsletters for a more detailed discussion of the listed property market and the fund’s strategy going into 2019.