Commercial Finance Specialists

The real estate investment trust sector may still be important to the recovery, according to a recent article.

There are hopes that the real estate investment trust (Reit) sector may form an important part of the market recovery, despite underperforming the FTSE and other peers both in the downturn and the recovery.

Reits have sold more than £7 billion of properties in the past three years, but barriers for entry into the regime remain, including a six per cent charge on the market value of properties, the Financial Times reports.

Peter Beckett, a director at Ernst & Young, said that the Reits regime was launched at the right time for the Treasury, but the wrong time for the commercial property investment sector.

"Nonetheless, groups that converted were able to write off significant amounts of latent capital gains tax and have enjoyed a tax-free regime since," he told the paper.

In other news, Greek property tycoon Achilleas Kallakis was recently charged with a £61 million commercial mortgage fraud against Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Scotland.