Állítsd be, hogy az Economx az elsők között legyen a Google-találatokban!
"Buy low, sell high" goes the basic rule - but if something has fallen significantly that does not necessarily mean that it is cheap from every point of view. The malaise on foreign property markets has been ongoing at least since summer last year, so investments can be made at much lower prices now than 12-18 months ago. If someone decided that now is the time to jump in, there is no shortage of investment fund offers in Hungary. However, there are substantial risks to consider at the majority of these funds, due to the risks associated with equity markets, their volatility, and the foreign currency exposure. This is because most funds do not invest directly into properties but rather into shares of property developers, distributors or contractors.
There are only a few Hungarian open-ended property funds - that is, funds whose certificates can be continuously bought and redeemed - which deal with foreign property markets, but there is some choice. This category includes the euro and forint versions of Credit Suisse's Property fund, which has been operating for several years and focuses on European real estate. K&H's Property Market fund also has a long history, is available in forints, and buys shares of American property-oriented firms for dollars. Its price has tumbled sharply over recent periods, partly due to the dollar's decline and partly to the general negative stock market mood, so it seems in no way expensive, but one still has to calculate with the dollar's significant exchange rate risk. A new equity fund was launched this spring, called Dialóg Property Developer, which invests in shares of companies active on the Eastern European property market.
The OTP Group appeared on the market recently with its Asia Property and Infrastructure fund, which also invests in property company shares. Raifeisen's Univerzum II is also open-ended, but capital protected (guaranteed) as well, and it is unique in that in addition to the now-fashionable Eastern Asian markets, one of its underlying benchmarks is an Australian property index. (It should be noted that open-ended guaranteed funds usually have high entry fees, because the handling of entries during the course of the fund's maturity is problematic.) If one has foreign currency, or is willing to convert forints, he can choose from at least half a dozen foreign funds available in Hungary, such as for example Credit Suisse European Property, ESPA Stock Europe Property, ING Invest Global Real Estate or Parvest Europe Real Estate Securities. It is worth noting that foreign funds usually - but not always - have higher entry fees than local ones, and could require that a relatively high amount be invested in one sum.
There are also numerous closed-ended, so-called guaranteed funds that focus more or less on foreign real estate markets, but these can no longer be subscribed and are traded on the stock exchange in low liquidity. These include series which focus entirely on real estate, such as OTP Real (investing in shares of 20 Eastern European property companies), MKB Granite, the MKB Szakura pegged to Far Eastern markets, or the Metropolis of Budapest Fund Manager. These are faring quite badly at present, with the performance of the underlying share basket only close to zero at best at the end of August, but some have suffered heavy losses, such as OTP Real. (The latter's yield is dependent among others on Orco, which has plunged recently on the stock market, and Spanish property firm Martinsa-Fadesa, now under bankruptcy protection.) The yields of some other guaranteed funds, which have complex portfolios, are dependent only partly on foreign property markets. (e.g. MKB Tricollis, Budapest Duplatrend, OTP Linea 3.)(The author has interests in some of the listed funds.)József Eidenpenz
