| 2004 |
|
YEAR BOOK |
University of Ulster
|
Centre for Research on Property and Planning
Benchmarking urban regeneration property investment returns
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The regeneration of deprived areas of cities and towns has been a policy objective of successive governments over the past two decades. While there have been numerous evaluations of initiatives and schemes to assess the impact in regeneration terms as part of the review of policy, there has been no real attempt to assess property performance and investment trends, which have suffered from the relative lack of market transparency in regeneration areas. Indeed, weak and confused market signals in regeneration areas have perpetuated misconceptions regarding investment returns and risk, leading to regeneration opportunities being ignored by many institutional investors. As a consequence, within the property sector, most institutional investment is focused upon the prime commercial markets (retail, office and industrial) for which transaction evidence is best developed.
Without adequate information, investors are unwilling to allocate funds to a project or an investment opportunity. This investigation by the Centre for Research on Property and Planning, School of the Built Environment, at the University of Ulster, has developed a property performance index for urban regeneration areas. The results based on an index for eight major metropolitan areas show that it is possible to achieve financial returns that exceed recognised performance benchmarks. This finding is important in changing perceptions in investment decision-making and in the encouragement of private finance into urban regeneration.
Contact: Professor S. McGreal, School of the Built Environment,
Room 4F14, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, BT37 0QB;
Tel: 028 90366566, E-mail: [email protected]