A round-up of today's other personal finance stories in brief

Standard Life launches real estate fund

Standard Life has launched its Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) fund, which it says will give investors easy access to global property.

Since January 1st, British companies that manage and maintain real estate for investment purposes can convert into the new tax-efficient trusts, which are expected to improve liquidity for real estate transactions, because shares are traded rather than property assets.

Standard Life's Reits fund will have a 40 per cent holding in Asian property, 35 per cent in European property and 25 per cent in US property. There is a minimum investment of €10,000.

Joint venture mortgage starts

Irish Life & Permanent's specialist mortgage joint venture with Merrill Lynch has started offering its loans through selected mortgage brokers, under the name Springboard Mortgages.

Shane O'Sullivan, Springboard's chief executive, said consumers suffer from a lack of competition in the market.

One week into the new venture, loans worth €3 million have been approaved in principle through three brokers.

Specialist lenders target people who have difficulty getting a mortgage as a result of a bad credit rating or irregular income, charging them higher than average interest rates.

Springboard, which will offer mortgages starting at an interest rate of 5.5 per cent, said it would offer interest-only repayments.

Exhibition target first-time buyers

An exhibition aimed at first-time buyers is to take place in Leisureland, Salthill, in Galway on February 24th and 25th. Tickets can be booked at www.firsttimebuyersshow.ie