Non-listed real estate funds invested in the Asia-Pacific region delivered an 11.7% return in 2015, the biggest gain since 2007, said an annual index compiled by the Hong Kong-based Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles, or ANREV.
The latest gain bested the 9% return reported for 2014, with strength in Japan and Australia more than offsetting weakness in China, said Amelie Delaunay, ANREV’s director of research and professional standards, in a telephone interview.
For 2015, funds in Japan covered by the ANREV index, managed for the most part by global real estate firms, delivered the highest returns in the region at 21.5%, up from 20.7% the year before.
Australian funds, meanwhile, gained 17%, up strongly from 10.6% the year before, as a jump in the capital gain component to 12.1% from 5.4% the year before offset a drop in the income component to 4.9% from 5.2%.
The 12 funds in the index invested in China posted an asset-weighted decline of 3% for the year, compared with a 2.8% gain in 2014.
For the current year, demand for real estate in key markets in the region remains solid, and institutional investors continue to add to their allocations in an environment where sovereign bond yields remain low, noted Ms. Delaunay.
Net of new fund offerings and liquidations, the number of funds in the ANREV Annual index dropped to 84 at the close of 2015 from 93 the year before.