Investors have been pulling cash out of property funds for 42 months in a row, according to the latest figures from Calastone.

March saw a further £98m of capital drawn from property funds, according the global funds network’s latest Fund Flow Index. While this is an improvement on February’s figure of £147m, it means that property funds have suffered outflows for three-and-a-half years without let up.

The March figure also remains a long way from December’s £26m outflow, which was the best result the sector has seen since the run of outflows began in autumn 2018.

Edward Glyn, head of global markets at Calastone, said: “Property funds stand out for having suffered throughout the last three-and-a-half years as one shock after another has been bad for the sector – Brexit, the pandemic and now the economic fallout of a war in Europe. But there is no suggestion that March saw a rout for property funds.”

In fact, property funds got off lightly compared with other asset classes. Equity funds suffered their biggest outflow since the Brexit referendum, shedding £1.53bn in March, while fixed-income funds saw investors redeem £274m of their holdings, only the second negative month for bond funds since the beginning of the pandemic.

Glyn added: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked dramatic outflows of capital from a variety of asset classes. Commercial property has in the past proved a good hedge against inflation because rental prices rise over time. All other things being equal, this could make it a relative safe haven in the current climate. But investors are still grappling with structural issues which have changed the supply and demand characteristics of the market during the pandemic. They seem content to steer clear of property funds for the time being.”