Fund houses 'burnt' investors on commercial property

The firm's analysis of advertising data in 2007 found investment houses continued to promote commercial property funds while sector outflows in Q4 hit £1.65bn. Heartwood chief executive David Lough says many investors had "their fingers burnt" by the commercial property market and fund houses have to accept added responsibility. "Certain retail fund management firms have contributed to the problem by advertising funds which, in the conditions developing during 2007, had very little hope of achieving a respectable performance,” he says. “Now some (investors) are locked in because the fun...