Net outflows from German open-ended property funds dropped significantly in November 2008 to €721m.

Latest figures from the German association of investment companies, the BVI, show a sharp drop on the outflows recorded in October last year, when investors withdrew almost €5.1bn before a number of funds imposed a three-month halt on redemptions.

A number of German open ended fund managers imposed the ban as redemptions by institutional and private investors put pressures on the liquidity in their funds.

The spate of closures began on 27 October 2008 when KanAm closed its US-focused Grundinvest fund closed for three months, and its Grundinvest fund, the next day. Shortly after, DEGI suspended redemptions on its DEGI Europa and DEGI International funds for three months, followed by UBS Real Estate and Morgan Stanley.

BVI said that open-ended property funds had proved a stable asset class in the financial crisis, attracting 4.8% more equity on average during the whole of 2008 compared with the year-earlier period.

This was in sharp contrast to the marked declines seen among some other asset classes, BVI said.