LONDON (Reuters) - Investors pulled less money from UK-based property funds in July compared with previous months, as optimism about the sector grew with COVID-19 restrictions lifting in Britain, fund network Calastone said on Wednesday. England changed its employment guidance on July 19, no longer requiring people to work from home where possible. Investors withdrew a net 94 million pounds ($130.27 million)from real estate funds in July, following outflows of 249 million pounds in June and 414 million in May. “Industrial premises are in high demand as manufacturers get back to work and logistics operations thrive,” said Edward Glyn, head of global markets at Calastone. “These chinks of light, combined with very positive news on the economic recovery, are helping to quell investors’ most pessimistic instincts on real estate.” Property funds saw net inflows on a couple of days in late July, the first days of inflows this year, Calastone said. Total office take-up in central London rose to 1.9 million square feet (176,516 square meters) in the second quarter, the highest quarterly number since the pandemic began, real estate consultancy Avison Young said in a report this week. More than two-thirds of UK-based fund flows by value pass across the Calastone network each month. Environmental, social and governance-focused equity funds saw 995 million pounds in inflows last month, their second-best showing since Calastone started reporting flows data in 2015. ($1 = 0.7216 pounds) Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Tomasz Janowski Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.