For the property loan stock (PLS) index, the total year-to-date return has been 42.29%, whereas the property unit trust (PUT) index has returned 29.96%, Catalyst said.

This highlights the effect that savings on debt funding costs, brought about by interest rate cuts, is having on the more highly geared PLS funds.

"Improving property fundamentals, together with savings on debt-funding costs, continue to drive distribution growth and individual share performance," the securities firm commented.

"We expect this trend to continue in the short-term but expect longer-term performance to be primarily driven by the quality of individual securities in property portfolios."

The yield on the listed property sector firmed from 7.56% at the start of last month to 7.34% in mid-October and to 7.43% at the month-end.

Over the same period the R157 long bond weakened from 8.10% at the beginning of October to 8.20% mid-month, before ending the month at 8.08%. The firming of the listed property sector's yield relative to bond yields continued to be driven by the higher expectation of income distribution growth, Catalyst said.

The top performer for the month was hybrid property group Redefine, with a total return of 13.63%.

Metprop was the next-best performer with a return of 10.00% for the month.

Nine funds put in a negative performance in October. The worst were Pangbourne, with a total return of -4.89%, and Calulo at -3.36%.