Real Capital Analytics (RCA) plans to launch a new suite of indices in the UK later this year, the company's new European head Simon Mallinson told PropertyEU.
Real Capital Analytics (RCA) plans to launch a new suite of indices in the UK later this year, the company's new European head Simon Mallinson told PropertyEU.
'The indices will be different to existing indices based on valuations. Our indices will be based on paired transaction values, tracking the changes in pricing. They allow the real-time pickup of important market turning points, helping investors make better decisions.'
The new index products will be modelled on an existing set of indices RCA recently launched in its home market in the US. While valuation-based indices like those of IPD focus on institutional assets, RCA is seeking to provide indices drawn from a wider universe of owners including REITs, private equity and opportunity funds which typically do not value regularly so cannot be reflected in valuation indices.
'There's a place for both types of indices,' Mallinson said. 'Both provide relevant data but what is new about the transaction-based indices is that they are better able to signal new trends in the market.'
Mallinson said the first transaction-based indices for the UK would be launched in February in London and Munich to test the appetite from market participants. Aside from a headline index for all commercial property, RCA is also planning related indices based on sector and geographic breakdowns.
Continental Europe is also on the agenda, he added, but declined to provide more details, saying that 'more work' was needed first.
