Australian listed property (LPT) vehicles are on the radar of overseas private equity groups, according to Shaw Stockbroking head of research Scott Marshal.

"There has already been some domestic interest in the US from private equity for LPTs and next phase is going to be the acquisition of Australian trusts by global players," Marshall said.

"Westfield and Centro are in the top five retail mall owners in the US and are therefore on the radar of private equity groups."

However, Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets head John Talbot said private equity firms would struggle to find value from LPTs.

"The difficulty with achieving this is that most of the sector is trading at a considerable premium to underlying asset value, so the trusts aggressively priced," he said.

"It's hard to imagine most of the private equity groups paying the sorts of premiums required to loosen up some of the ownerships."

According to Marshall, Australian LPTs have preformed strongly over the last few years and value in the sector is limited.

"The property trust sector has again performed strongly in calendar 2006, with total returns in line with the market," Marshall said.

"This is remarkable, following from the strong returns generated over the past few years but there are still opportunities in the sector.

"We are now focusing on trusts that are looking at funds management, or which have existing funds management businesses."