Many investors see property investment as an attractive and potentially rewarding component to a portfolio. While some take a more optimistic or pessimistic view, this seems to sum up the mainstream at present. But it looks like the nature of property investment as we currently know it could be set for change. What does the future hold for this popular asset class?

One factor frequently cited by those who do take a dimmer view of property investment is the amount of work involved. Full-service property investments (also known as end-to-end property investment) are increasingly being used, especially by high net worth individuals, as a way to conquer this while still adding property exposure to their portfolios.

Currently, the comparatively labour-intensive nature of managing investment properties is in evidence throughout the process. Buying a property is relatively slow-going and involved. During the time you hold the asset, it will need repair, maintenance and, potentially, improvement. When you come to sell, you return to the same lengthy process as you encountered when buying.

Full management property investments aim to eliminate this problem for the investor and make property as accessible as most other assets. From the purchase process to resale, through all the maintenance and administration in between, they will handle the property investment for the investor. The investor, meanwhile, still gets to keep an attractively large portion of the returns, and in some cases can enjoy up to 70% capital appreciation over just three years.

Urban markets are currently particularly attractive for this kind of investment. Properties in the UK, London and Manchester have been identified as stand-out markets. Internationally, the Australian markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and the US cities of Miami, Chicago, New York and Seattle are all good examples. Not only do these urban locations offer healthy property markets forecast for significant growth in coming years, but they also offer significant areas of redevelopment.

This last factor is important, because areas of redevelopment are of particular interest to full service property investments. Investment companies generally buy properties in bulk at the early stages of development, for example a whole floor of apartments. Through a mixture of early investment, economies of scale and, often, established relationships with developers, this allows individual units to be purchased at impressively low prices. This can help maximise returns for investors despite the use of a third party for complete management of the property.

Full management property investment also tends to be fairly flexible, giving investors the potential for quick returns or the opportunity to follow the long-term tactics that usually underpin property development. If they want to simply proceed with letting the property upon completion, the investment company will fully manage the process and allowed this to be carried out with very minimal effort. If values have risen significantly during the construction process and the investor wants to seize the opportunity, there will usually be options to sell instead.

With full management services expected to grow significantly in popularity, it may be that in the future property investment is no longer seen as labour-intensive at all.