Fund managers, property and pension groups have seen shares hit on Tuesday as fears over the state of the UK's retail property market escalate after Britain's decision to leave the EU.
Last night it emerged that Standard Life (LON:SL.) had suspended trading in its UK property fund as investors rush all at once to withdraw funds.
Standard is acting on worries it can't meet the sale demands without selling property, which may be increasingly hard in the current negative climate following the Brexit vote.
Property in London, has reportedly seen 10% to 15% wiped off asking prices.
Big deals, often from foreign investors in the city, are also becoming increasingly under pressure.
Standard shares were today down 3.6% to 276p, while Legal and General (LON:LGEN) was down 5.61% at 176.5p and Prudential (LON:PRU) lost 3.77% at 1,212.5p. Persimmon (LON:PSN) was down 5.23% and Bellway (LON:BWY) shed 4.11%.
Old Mutual (LON:OML) lost 1.76% to 195.20p
Standard wrote down the value of the fund by 5% last week, and has now said the suspension would end "as soon as practicable" and it would review its decision to suspend trading every 28 days.
Property funds were under pressure even before the referendum but the vote appears to have consolidated fears.
To underline how things have changed, in May this year alone, private investors withdrew a net £342mln from UK funds, compared to putting in, or investing, £1.1bn in the same month in 2015.
According to one set of research, commercial real estate investment volumes reached £10.7bn in the first three months of 2016, which was 28% down on the same period a year ago.
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Property funds are clearly under pressure as a result of the Brexit vote, and we could now see a new wave of investors being unable to liquidate their property funds quickly, which we last witnessed during the financial crisis.
He added: “Given the outflows the sector seems to be experiencing, this could well put downward pressure on commercial property prices. The risk is this creates a vicious circle, and prompts more investors to dump property, until such time as sentiment stabilises.
“Continued low interest rates in theory provide support for commercial property, because as prices fall, yields become even more attractive; however, at the moment, investors appear to be leaving the sector, rather than buying in.”