Total value of global assets under management surges

Total value of global assets under management surgesTotal real estate assets under management rose from US$2.19 trillion to US$2.5 trillion year-on-year with fund managers of all sizes increasing the value of their assets, finds the latest Fund Manager Survey 2017.Assets under management by the top global real estate managers increased by 25.8 per cent to US$43 billion and the top three firms managed real estate assets of US$140.2 billion on average.The survey was conducted by the Asian and European associations for investors in non-listed real estate vehicles (ANREV and INREV) and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF).In total, 177 fund managers globally completed the questionnaire. The majority of fund managers were from Europe (.8%), followed by Asia Pacific (29.4%) and North America (19.8%). Blackstone Group topped the overall rankings, followed by Brookfield Asset Management and Prudential Global Investment Management (PGIM) in third position. Similar to 2016, Singaporean CapitaLand Limited dominated the list of Asia Pacific managers, with its assets under management hitting US$42.4 billion.China’s Fosun Property Holdings came in second place with US$32.4 billion and Mapletree Investments, headquartered in Singapore, came in third with US$23.6 billion.Just over 17 per cent of total global real estate assets were invested in Asia Pacific, compared with 34 per cent in Europe, and nearly 37 per cent in North America.Non-listed real estate vehicles – including funds, separate accounts, joint ventures and club deals – accounted for US$2.0 trillion (80.4 per cent) of all real estate assets under management globally. In Asia Pacific, the majority of assets continued to be invested in non-listed funds and private real estate investment trusts, with .6 per cent invested in these vehicles compared with 61.0 per cent in 2016. Pension funds and insurance companies were the most significant sources of capital for non-listed funds and for separate accounts.Amélie Delaunay, director of research and professional standards at ANREV says fund managers of all sizes grew their assets under management over the past year, “demonstrating the attractiveness of real estate investment globally”. “The big managers also continue to get bigger, shown through the 25.8 per cent uplift in the assets under management of the top from 2016.”