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In a bid to broaden the understanding of the real estate investment decision-making framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine the real estate asset allocation decision-making practices of real estate funds in Nigeria, a developing economy. This is with a view to providing information toward enhancing real estate investment decisions.

A mixed-methods approach comprising a combination of literature review, expert interviews and semi-structured questionnaire survey is adopted for this study. Through literature review and expert interviews, the asset allocation decision-making process of institutional real estate funds was identified. Based on the literature review and expert discussions, a semi-structured questionnaire was developed and self-administered on fund/portfolio managers of 59 institutional real estate funds in Nigeria to investigate their asset allocation decision-making practice. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics for the closed-ended questions while the open-ended questions were content analyzed.

The findings revealed that the asset allocation decision-making process utilized by public and private real estate funds follows an opportunistic asset accumulation approach. The decision-making process also varies depending on the nature of the fund. Further findings showed that government policies, political uncertainties and regulatory mechanism motivate asset allocation decisions. Moreover, majority of the sampled real estate funds employed a combination of in-house personnel and external consultants (hybrid), while mean/standard deviation and cash flow analysis (DCF, NPV) were mostly utilized by the funds in making property investment decisions.

The findings implied that the real estate asset allocation decision-making process of institutional property investors in Nigeria deviates from the normative model of the asset allocation process prescribed in the literature and varies depending on the nature of the real estate funds. As such, familiarization of institutional investors with government policies, political climate and other regulatory mechanism (barriers to entry) guiding the ownership and operation of real estate assets in the country could improve their real estate investment decisions.

The study complements and extends existing literature on real estate asset allocation decision-making process of institutional investors from the viewpoint of the actors involved in a developing African economy.

The purpose of this paper is to define an approach useful to evaluate real estate funds on the specific characteristics of the Italian market and on the basis of international best practices.

The first step is to identify specific factors and portfolio construction choices that could impact directly on the variability of inflows and outflows related to real estate fund. The analysis is realised constructing standard measures of financial and downside risk and identifying a panel model that allows to explain risk measure dynamics on the basis of some investments and portfolio characteristics. Results obtained are tested with an out of sample procedure in order to evaluate the type of misclassification risk related to each model. The second step is to evaluate the impact of debt policy on the risk assumed by a real estate funds. After an analysis of debt sustainability for each real estate unit on the basis of deadlines and amount of flows related to each investment, the study proposed looks directly at the debt policy of listed real estate funds: the analysis is aimed to evaluate the relationship between leverage choice and inflows/outflows variability and the coherence between declared results and expected results for high‐leveraged funds respect to the others.

The results stemming from the use of a real estate database supplied by Beni Stabili Gestioni Società di Gestione del Risparmio showed that the portfolio's construction choice impacts strongly on the variability of results of a real estate fund. The strict linkage between characteristics of debt and type of property makes difficult to evaluate the additional risk related to debt choice but on the basis of Italian market data are possible to point out the higher difficulties for high‐leveraged funds to achieve the result communicated to the market (the so‐called target IRR).

The value added of the paper is to study the relevance of specific risk factors respect to portfolio's ones in the evaluation of risk exposure for a real estate portfolio and the impact of the leverage choices on the variability of inflows and outflows related to the real estate investments.

While there are numerous indices for the German stock and bond markets, no performance index exists for the German property market, yet foreign institutional investors in particular are interested in the creation of a performance index, in order to achieve an acceptable framework for international real‐estate investment. Presents a construction method for a real‐estate performance index based on published accounting reports of open‐end real‐estate investment funds. This total return index can be disaggregated into a net cash‐flow return as well as capital growth, and could serve investors as an information tool about the German property market. This index could not only be used within the scope of performance analysis, but also for the benchmarking of real estate portfolios or decision making in portfolio management asset allocation. At the same time, this would enhance the transparency, liquidity and professionalism of the German real‐estate market.

This paper seeks to shed light on the question whether German real estate investment vehicles provide an effective hedge against inflation. To do so it aims to investigate open‐end real estate funds, special funds and real estate stocks.

Traditional approaches as well as cointegration and causality tests are applied to monthly and quarterly index data from 1992:04 to 2009:12 for the subject investment vehicles.

There is strong evidence that real estate returns are almost independent from inflation in the short run. None of the investigated investment vehicles provide a hedge against expected and unexpected inflation at different lags. In contrast, cointegration tests show that real estate stocks, open‐end funds and special funds do provide a hedge against inflation in the long term. Likewise, causality tests suggest that real estate performance is influenced by inflation in the long term.

The study still could not investigate closed‐end funds and G‐REITs. Yet, it does capture the most and comprehensive part of the indirect German real estate investment market.

Inflation‐hedging capabilities are of particular interest in periods of economic instability. Especially institutional investors with large asset portfolios seek to adjust their asset allocation to changing conditions.

To date, research papers on the subject of inflation‐hedging capabilities of real estate almost exclusively focus on REITs in the USA and in the UK. Research about the German real estate market and alternative investment vehicles is rare – partly due to a lack of transparency over the past – although international investors more and more adhere to the German real estate investment market.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the determinants and the operational aspects of real estate crowdfunding (RECF henceforth). It addresses RECF growth, drivers and platforms in light of modern digital technology.

A comparison with traditional real estate funding is provided, and the ease and advantages that RECF offers to real estate investors are analyzed. The risks and rewards of crowdfunding in general and RECF in particular are also addressed.

Inasmuch as RECF appears novel and disruptive, research in this paper dates RECF back to the seventieth century. The findings thus posit that RECF is an evolutionary process while it is currently transformative and disruptive.

This is a novel look into RECF, particularly in terms of data, analyses and evaluation of alternatives.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover the relationship between flows and real estate investment at open-ended real estate funds (OEREFs).

The study employs fixed-effects panel regressions, relying on data from the Hungarian fund managers’ trade association. First, the effect of lagged flows on allocation to real estate is assessed. Second, the paper studies how this relationship changes as the cyclical position of CRE market advances using two proxies.

Flows are found to affect funds’ real estate holdings if they occurred 12–18 months earlier. Inflows (outflows) in the preceding six months demonstrably lower (increase) funds’ real estate holdings ratio. Beyond this relationship, findings do not suggest that less funds are channelled to real estate as “CRE heat” intensifies.

In an environment marked by strong cash inflows, the investment lag can translate into a significant drop in funds’ exposure to real estate. The share of real estate at Hungarian funds in the sample, for example, fell from 79 to 50 per cent on average over the period of 2011–2017. Measures designed to limit inflows are in the interest of those existing investors who wish to avoid a dilution of the core investment strategy.

The paper adds to the literature on OEREFs which has been particularly scarce on liquidity transformation during non-crisis times and on non-German funds.

The asset allocation decision for a pension portfolio needs to consider several, sometimes conflicting, aspects. Most pension managers use models and processes that are developed for the traditional asset classes for analyzing this problem. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how real estate is included in this process, for what purpose and how the real estate portfolio is constructed.

Seven individuals responsible for the asset allocation process were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed with regards to organizational options and their real estate strategy.

It was found that real estate is held for three different purposes, risk diversification, inflation hedging/liability matching and return enhancement and that the allocation has increased over time. The allocation strategy has evolved at least in part in conjuncture with the organizational structure set in place to overcome real estate market frictions.

The interviews were geographically limited to pension funds domiciled in Sweden and Finland.

It is concluded that the organizational capabilities of the pension fund of handling real estate is an important consideration for the ensuing real estate portfolio.

The originality of this paper lies in that it is based on interviews with individuals who are responsible for the asset allocation decision at large pension funds. The findings of the paper identify areas of interest for future research.

The overall performance of real estate funds can be ascribed to capital appreciation and/or income return. The Italian property funds market has grown significantly over the past few years; however, little is known about the key drivers of property fund performance. The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of two sources of funds’ performance and identify their relevance during the financial crisis.

The paper considers the Italian market in the last decade and analyses the annual reports of public real estate funds, separating appraisal returns from income returns. By considering a wide time horizon, it evaluates if the roles of income returns and capital gains with respect to overall performance are more or less influenced by fund characteristics, such as asset diversification, concentration, and leverage.

The contribution of income return and capital growth are not strictly related to the overall performance of Italian real estate funds, with a significantly lower correlation during the global financial crisis. Furthermore, the main drivers of the two income sources are not strictly comparable.

The paper presents the first analysis on the source of income return for the Italian real estate funds and it represents one of the few studies that considers the effect of the financial crisis on European indirect real estate investments, capital appreciation and income return.

Long lease real estate funds (over £15bn in Q3 2020) have emerged as an increasingly important part of UK pension fund real estate portfolios. This paper explores the reasons for their dramatic growth, their characteristics and performance.

This study uses data for the period 2004–2020 collected directly from fund managers and from AREF/MSCI and empirical analysis to explore their characteristics and performance.

Pension fund de-risking and regulatory guidance have supported the dramatic growth of long lease real estate funds. Long lease real estate funds have delivered strong risk-adjusted returns relative to both balanced property funds (with shorter lease terms) and the wider property market. This relative performance has been particularly strong when wider property market performance has been weak. Long lease funds have objectives aligned with liability matching and their performance suggests they are lower risk (more bond-like) investments. In addition, our analysis highlights they are far less responsive to the wider property market than balanced funds. However, they are not significantly different from balanced property funds in terms of their short-term relationship with gilt yield movements.

For pension funds and other investors the paper highlights that long lease real estate funds offer a different exposure than balanced property funds. Long lease funds have objectives more closely aligned to the overall objectives for pension fund investment but are not significantly more reliable than balanced property funds in the short-term as a liability hedge. For real estate fund managers, occupiers, developers and others active in the real estate market, the paper highlights why these funds have been (and are likely to remain) attractive to investors leading to substantial demand for long lease real estate investments.

This is the first study to review this increasingly important part of the UK real estate fund universe.

Under the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic circumstances where the gold prices are increasing and the stocks are in free fall, this research aims to compare the returns of gold prices and Turkish real estate investment trust (T-REIT) index by covering the 2008 global financial crisis, 2018 Turkish currency crisis and 2020 COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis periods and examine the effects of the returns of gold and the T-REIT index on each other, a research area that has been limited in the literature.

For the empirical analysis, vector auto regression model was used, and Augmented Dickey–Fuller and Granger causality tests were also conducted. The average returns were compared with the coefficient of variation analysis.

The results of the study exhibited that except for the 2008 global financial crisis period, 2018 Turkish currency crisis and 2020 COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis, the T-REIT index performs better than gold prices, but it is a riskier instrument, and both investment instruments do not affect the returns of each other. The segmentation of both instruments recommends the fund managers including both tools for diversification of a portfolio.

In Turkey, gold prices are valued based on the fluctuations of the global gold prices, as well as the Turkish Lira/US Dollar currency exchange rates. The effect of the exchange rates may be considered in future studies, and the study may be conducted based on the USD values of the T-REIT index and global gold prices. Further studies may also include the comparison between the T-REIT index returns and a set of commodities such as the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index. This study covered only the first five months of 2020 to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis initial effects, and a successor study is also recommended by including more new data of the post-COVID-19 pandemic and comparing both results.

The results of the research are expected to contribute to the REIT literature and give insight to investors about their investment choices while including both investment tools in their portfolio, especially for the future conditions of the new COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis.

The study may provide insight for individuals, especially those who are considering possible investment options in the Turkish real estate market in the post-COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Gold and real estate have always been considered as important investment instruments. Gold is commonly accepted as a safe haven in the literature, and the REITs are considered as long-term investment instruments by many scholars. While gold prices increase in the windy periods, the returns of real estate investments have more cyclical movements based on mostly the macroeconomic conditions and its integration with stock markets, yet the real estate is a common long-term investment tool, especially because of the regular income it generates for the retirement years. By covering three crisis periods including the COVID-19 pandemic-based economic crisis effects, making research about two important investment tools would contribute to the literature, especially in which the studies in this area were very limited.