Listed real estate made its debut as a standalone sector in benchmark global equity indices on 1 September. According to research undertaken for EPRA, the European Public Real Estate Association, that realignment could attract up to €75 billion of additional capital inflows to European real estate securities in coming years.

The Global Industry Classification Standard for equity indices, the reference for stock indices compiled by MSCI and Standard & Poor’s, was amended as of 1 September to show real estate as a separate sector, to form the 11th industry sector. It is the first new sector introduced since the creation of the GICS in 1999. Real estate now comprises 3.40 percent of the index universe; effectively, the sector has been unbundled from the Financials sector that it was part of before.

EPRA says that the new system should offer much lower levels of volatility, or risk, for listed property investors and also highlight the dividend income yields that RE