Opinion

Beta awareness should prevail as cycles turn

Lagging performance indicators in private real estate is an existential problem for the sector, making alpha betting challenging for investors, argues James Corl, head of private real estate, Cohen & Steers.

Multifamily can no longer be seen as a safe bet

Masked by the sector darling’s significant growth over the past four years, many miscalculations are now coming to a head.

The opportunity is distress – without the big discounts

Active private real estate investors are buying up assets from owners under pressure. But they are less fixated on bargains.

Starwood pursues another path to growth in APAC

The firm is adding its ESR stake acquisition to previous efforts to attain a presence in the region.

Logistics was always the prize for ESR, complexity the price

ESR’s sale of ARA Private Funds demonstrates the lengths the logistics powerhouse went to secure market share in the sector in Asia.

Institutional interest in European real estate is evidently growing

Attractive pricing and green shoots of liquidity in Europe present an increasingly compelling proposition for global capital markets to get behind.

Asia’s distinction from the West has become a double-edged sword

The region’s property owners are better protected from credit market dislocation than those in the US and Europe, but that is not all positive.

Tomorrow’s cash reserves cannot solve today’s problems

Banks’ commercial real estate loan loss provisions and managers’ cash reserves are under the microscope. But calls for prudence are too little, too late.

Investment period extensions carry no stigma now, but nor are they risk free

In a highly illiquid private real estate market, investors will need to get comfortable with longer deployment periods – and managers will need to contain any adverse impact.

Geopolitical risk should not be easily dismissed

Those who believe conflicts elsewhere in the globe do not have an impact on their investments should think again.