"It should help in the round - the more trust the investor has, and the more disclosure around the marketing, this should be a good thing in the long run.
But better regulation and greater political support for making these assets ESG friendly needs to come with more capital support from the government, too, although he quipped "don't hold your breath on that for October 30".
But commercial property has also got a 'sentiment' issue which some retail investors may need to overcome.
Creasey said some investors holding commercial property open-ended funds have found there are times when the investment was "punctuated by gates on redemptions" over the past few years.
He said: "This can be problematic for some investors. If you look back even seven years ago, there were many large open-ended property funds which had meaningful scale, and which invested in direct commercial property.
"Now there are very few, and even these are now starting to hold shares in REITs, which are not direct assets, to help with the liquidity issue and give them a more dependable liquidity profile."
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Global views on infrastructure
Their comments came as the Global Infrastructure Investor Association revealed results of a survey, which showed the majority of Britons advocating investment in infrastructure in order to deliver economic growth and environmental gains.
The survey was carried out by Ipsos among approximately 23,530 adults from 32 countries, before the July 4 election in Britain.
Of the British contingent, 72 per cent of Britons agreed that ‘Investing in infrastructure in Britain will create new jobs and boost the economy’ while a similar proportion, 67 per cent, said ‘investing in infrastructure in Britain will make an important contribution to combating climate change'.
Some 66 per cent said the country was not doing enough to meet Britain's infrastructure needs.
Sector | Britain’s ranking among 32 countries |
EV infrastructure | 10th |
Digital infrastructure | 11th |
Flood defences | 13th |
New housing supply | 15th |
Renewable energy | 16th |
Rail infrastructure | 17th |
Local road network | 19th |
Motorways/major road network | 19th |
Airports | 19th |
Water supply and sewerage | 24th |
Sectors ranked best-worst. Source: Global Infrastructure Index, Ipsos for Global Infrastructure Investor Association
According to the GIIA index, Britain ranks low among the 32 participating countries, which included the Philippines, India and Poland, in terms of infrastructure development and investment.
Ben Marshall, research director, for Ipsos UK, said: “This year’s survey suggests the British public see an upside of investment in infrastructure."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
