17 March 2004
In April 2003 the Chancellor asked Kate Barker, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to undertake a review on the responsiveness of housing supply in the UK. Her interim report recommended “there is merit in the Government considering a vehicle, based on the US Real Estate Investment Trust (REITS) model, to encourage increased institutional investment.”
In response, this document launches a consultation on how the structure of a new Property Investment Fund might be developed for the UK. It responds to concerns that barriers in the tax system may be contributing to distortions in the market for property investment, resulting in poor liquidity, barriers for smaller investors entering the market and high debt financing levels, all of which may be hindering progress towards a more stable and efficient market, better able to support the Government’s economic objectives.
Consultation responses should be sent by 16 July 2004 to:
PIFconsultation@hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk
"Promoting more flexible investment in property: a consultation" is available below in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.