Many UK Firms Seen Eyeing 'REIT' Status

About half the United Kingdom's larger, publicly listed property firms might convert to property investment funds if the U.K. were to introduce them, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has reported.One quarter of the U.K.'s smaller property firms also might convert to PIFs, the U.K.'s proposed equivalent of real estate investment trusts, according to a study the CML commissioned. The study indicated that these expected conversion rates are based on the assumption that the transfer fee would not be too high for the companies in question. The CML can be found online at http://www.cml.org.uk.