Research house Standard & Poor's (S&P) has put the AMP Capital Core Property Fund on hold after AMP Capital Investors temporarily replaced the fund's daily withdrawal policy with quarterly withdrawal offers.
"This has been brought about by a number of sector-wide influences including investor sentiment, the global re-pricing of the listed property market and softening direct property values," S&P fund analyst Nathan Bode said.
AMP Capital extended the withdrawal period to improve the fund's liquidity position, protect the fund from the extremes in asset allocation and ensure the fund is not forced to sell assets in a depressed market, S&P said.
The fund is one of the last two hybrid property funds that S&P has put on hold for the same reason. S&P currently has 11 direct or hybrid property funds on hold.
Market conditions also caused the fund's asset allocation to shift to 62 per cent direct property and 38 per cent listed property instead of an even amount.
Prior to the ratings change, the $275 million fund had a five-star rating from S&P and has a highly-recommended score from Lonsec. Lonsec was unavailable to comment by press deadline when asked if it was reviewing the fund.
