And over a five- and 10-year time period property has also beaten equities with the largest out-performance since the mid 1970s and early 1980s.
Commercial property has outperformed other traditional "safe-haven" assets such as government bonds and gold over the past year, due to property's relatively high income returns. And the RICS Foundation concluded that the continued under-performance of the equity market means there is likely to be strong investment interest in property through into 2003, even if equity markets rally in the next year.
Looking at factors that might dent property's bull run, the foundation warned that any Middle East conflict that is accompanied by a spike in the oil price would depress the property market, though the impact also depends upon the duration of the war.
The report concludes that arepeat of the property crash of the early 1990s is not expected due to lower levels of commercial property development compared to a decade earlier.
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