Real Estate Returned 11.82 Percent For Institutional Investors in 2014, Reports Group

small model house

U.S. institutional investors saw their real estate investments return 11.82 percent in 2014, according to the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries.

The group also reported that 2014 saw the highest volume of real estate transactions among institutional investors since 2005.

More from the Wall Street Journal:

The council’s NCREIF Property Index showed that real estate owned by institutions had returns of 11.82% in 2014. That’s up slightly from 2013, when returns were 11.22%, but down from 2011 when returns were 14.26%.

The index tracks the performance of over 7,000 properties valued at over $400 billion that are owned by pension funds, asset managers and other institutional investors. The return is a combination of income and the appreciation of the properties. All the returns are unleveraged, assuming the properties are purchased on an all-cash basis.

For 2014, the 11.82% return consisted of a 5.36% income return and a 6.21% appreciation return, NCREIF said.

[…]

NCREIF reported that net income at the properties that it tracks increased 6.5% for the year. Occupancy ended the year at 9.9%, the highest level since the first quarter of 2008.

NCREIF also said that sales volume was increasing. In the fourth quarter of 2014, the institutions that the council tracks sold 282 properties and added 271 buildings. That’s the highest transaction volume since 2005.

The 2014 return of 11.82 percent is considered a “sustainable level”, Jeffrey Fisher, a NCREIF researcher, told the Wall Street Journal.

 

Photo by  thinkpanama via Flickr CC License

Chart: CalPERS’ Real Estate Returns Since 2000

CalPERS real estate returns

CalPERS announced last week plans to increase its real estate investments by 27 percent. This graph [above] shows the  performance of the pension fund’s real estate portfolio since 2000.

As the graph indicates, the fund’s real estate investments have generally performed well, consistently netting returns of 15 percent or more.

But 2009 and 2010 were disastrous, and CalPERS lost $10 billion on real estate investments over that period.

CalPERS’ latest foray into real estate will be marked by investments in properties with “established demand”, according to the fund’s CIO, Ted Eliopoulos. Such investments include apartment complexes in cities and fully leased office buildings.

 

Graph credit: The Wall Street Journal.