During May 2004, world stock markets faced increasing pressure from rising oil prices, the fear of rising US interest rates, “Fresh Credit” restrictions by the Chinese Government to avoid an overheating economy there, an Indian Government leadership crisis and increasing uncertainty of who will be the leader of the free world as George Bush’s popularity wanes.

The S+P Global 1200 rose 0.78% in May 2004 however, during the same month, real estate stocks returned to positive growth on 9 out of 19 Stock Exchanges monitored by ResearchWorldwide.com’s “Worldwide Stock Exchanges : Real Estate Performance Benchmarks”.

“This is in contrast to April 2004, when 15 out of 19 countries saw the real estate sector on their Stock Exchanges decline in value compared to March 2004. Nevertheless, May 2004 saw a healthy return to positive growth for real estate sectors on the New York, London, Australia, Toronto, Athens, Oslo, Madrid, Switzerland and Stockholm Stock Exchanges”, says ResearchWorldwide.com.

On the negative side, six of the Stock Exchanges’ real estate sectors, which fell in April 2004, saw further declines during May. These Stock Exchanges were Hong Kong, Italy, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam and Singapore.

According to the EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index a gain of 3.3% occurred for May 2004.

“The assured cash flows from certain real estate stocks - such as REITS and their equivalents worldwide - saw improving confidence from stock market investors, who were feeling somewhat uncertain about general stock market conditions during May 2004”, says ResearchWorldwide.com - The Worldwide Commercial Real Estate Information Portal.

Ends

Issued by: ResearchWorldwide.com - The Worldwide Commercial Real Estate Information Portal
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