Developing a socially responsible property investment index for UK property companies

Purpose - Socially responsible property investment (SRPI) has taken on increased significance in recent years, as property investors have given an increased priority to environmental, social and governance issues in their property investment decision making. The purpose of this paper is to establish SRPI performance indices for UK property companies and empirically benchmark their risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits over recent years. Design/methodology/approach - Using five socially responsible investment (SRI) performance eligibility criteria, the UK property companies contributing to these SRI measures are identified. These UK property companies are used to establish a number of SRPI market cap-weighted performance indices over 2003-2008. These SRPI performance indices are used to assess the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of UK SRPI property companies. Findings - This paper objectively identifies the UK property companies actively involved in SRPI and finds that the UK SRPI property companies delivered superior risk-adjusted returns than the overall UK property companies sector, with this performance being achieved with no loss of portfolio diversification benefits. Originality/value - Much of the previous SRPI research has focused on the broad concept of SRPI with no empirical analysis. This paper is the first attempt to rigorously and empirically assess the risk-adjusted performance of UK SRPI property companies by establishing SRPI performance indices for UK property companies. Given the increasing significance of SRPI, this research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical investment decision making regarding the performance-based supporting of the SRPI agenda by property investors.