The Emergence of a Discreet Asset Class: Global Real Estate Securities

The paper describes the extraordinary growth and strong performance of the market. On the one hand, established securities investors in Australia, Netherlands and the US are seeking to build exposure to real estate and real estate securities across global markets. On the other, investors from Europe, Japan and other parts of Asia are also increasing their allocations to real estate, and securities are starting to become of greater interest to such investors. Beyond the strong performance of securities, these investors are attracted by a series of other characteristics. This trend seems to be a cyclical response to the high liquidity in overall asset markets rather than a fundamental challenge to the REIT market. The paper also explores the trends and prospects for the sector at a global level and in each of the major regions. Although the global market continues to grow strongly, the worldís largest market, the US, has seen over US$100 billion of REIT stock taken private over the past 18 months. This raises questions over the prospect for the continued growth of the securities market, but the report argues that this trend seems to be a cyclical response to the high liquidity in overall asset markets rather than a fundamental challenge to the REIT market. The report covers a broad range of issues in considerable detail to demonstrate the profound structural changes in both the underlying real estate markets and in the securities markets around the world.