Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) retail and office property funds announced bumper profits last week.
CBA owned Colonial First State's (CFS) Retail Property Trust reported a net profit of $1.1 billion for the year to June 2007, up 84 per cent on the previous corresponding period.
The profit was driven by solid income growth, higher valuations and profitable completed developments, according to CFS property portfolio manager Michael Gorman.
The fund's gross assets grew from $5.3 billion to $6.4 billion.
The trust recently succeeded in a joint bid with GIC Real Estate to redevelop department store Myer's exclusive Bourke Street site in Melbourne.
The consortium paid $605 million for the site and plans to spend a further $500 million developing it.
The trust's investment performance for the year to June 2007, however, lagged behind the benchmark UBS Retail 200 Accumulation Index.
The trust returned 22.8 per cent to investors, compared to the benchmark which returned 24.8 per cent.
CBA's Property Office Fund (CPA) also reported strong figures last week.
The fund reported a net profit of $544.2 million for the financial year 2007, up from $297.5 per cent for 2006.
Commonwealth Managed Investments chairman Sean Wareing said profits were driven by revaluation gains of $375.1 million on investment properties, compared to $125.5 million in the previous financial year.
Shares in both funds were trading slightly down last Friday.
CFS's retail fund's shares were trading down 0.4 per cent at $2.38 and CPA shares were trading down 0.9 per cent at $1.69.
