THE ASSESSMENT OF PROPERTY INVESTMENT RISK

The quantitative assessment of the degree of risk associated with the direct acquisition of commercial property for investment purposes is practically non‐existent. There is almost always a total reliance on unquantified subjective feeling with no attempt to transform such a qualitative treatment into an analytically more acceptable and useful form. Whilst the investment capitalisation rate should, to an extent, reflect the investor's view of the future earnings capacity of a particular property, this yield rate is principally a function of general market sentiment and may not significantly allow for the inherent risk characteristics of an individual investment. This is especially the case at the prime end of the market where the pressure of funds competing to invest in a sector of particularly limited supply remains most severe.