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Calculated Inequality? Portfolio Benchmarking and Regional Office Property Investment in the UK

Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK, j.henneberry{at}sheffield.ac.uk

Claire Roberts

Department of Real Estate and Construction, Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP. UK. Fax: 01865 483927, croberts{at}brookes.ac.uk

The paper explores the reasons for the persistence in the UK of significant relative interregional variations in office property investment in the face of economic theory and empirical evidence that would support its more even spatial distribution. The argument is made from a cultural economy perspective and involves the application to property of a concept drawn from the accountancy literature: calculative practice. UK investment decision-making is distinguished by the primacy attributed to portfolio benchmarking as an influence on investment strategy. The wider logic underpinning property benchmarking is subjected to critical appraisal. Then, evidence is presented that suggests that benchmarking is a self-referential practice which results in convergence and rigidity in fund structures and in the concentration of performance around a bounded range of sub-optimal returns. It is a barrier to the greater geographical diversification of office property investment.

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