Global themes - UK property still a useful diversifier

UK commercial property delivered exceptional returns for an extended period up to the end of 2006. Since that time, the market has gone into reverse: slowing initially in the first half of 2007 in response to higher interest rates - something the market had been anticipating for some time - and falling in the second half of 2007 (less predictably), reflecting the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crisis, which has made borrowing for debt-driven investors more difficult and expensive. As measured by the Invest-ment Property Databank UK Monthly index, property gave a total return of -9....