Global index provider FTSE said Monday it was taking over the calculation of the specialist real estate index, the EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series, previously done by Euronext. The index, which will be renamed the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT index, is designed to track the performance of the 247 largest listed real estate companies around the world and acts as a performance measure for the overall property market. A spokesman for The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) said the index was switched to FTSE because it would allow the index to become real-time in Asia as well as Europe and North America.

"We needed an Asia real-time index and this was not possible in the near future with Euronext."

A real-time global index which is calculated every 15 seconds allows investors to use more innovative strategies such as trading derivatives and exchanged traded funds based on a property index.

Up to last Friday the index was calculated in real time during the European and US trading days, but only at the end of the trading day in Asia.

With $385 billion in assets under management in real estate portfolios globally the demand for indices covering property is growing rapidly. AXA Investment Managers already uses the index series for an exchange traded fund (ETF), called the easyETF EPRA Eurozone, which allows investors to track the performance of the property market.

EPRA, based in Holland, joined forces with the US listed property association, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) in 2001.

The now global index is split into three regions - Asia Pacific, Europe and North America and contains 37 indices.

Copyright Reuters, 2005