Asset Class Overview: Real Estate ¹

STRATEGY

Real estate is in many ways the easiest asset class to understand – it’s visible, tangible, and part of everyone’s daily experience. Under the surface, real estate encompasses a huge variety of assets and capital structures related to those assets.

These assets broadly fall under residential real estate (individually owned homes) and commercial real estate (pretty much everything else). Aside from residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), real estate as an investment asset class typically refers to commercial real estate and related strategies.

Commercial real estate breaks down across several sectors:

There are also niche categories, including: senior housing, student housing, affordable housing, biotech/life sciences facilities, etc.

Commercial real estate, much like personal residential real estate, is purchased with a combination of debt and equity. Just as there is a variety of real estate sectors, there is a variety of real estate debt and equity strategies.

Real estate equity investment strategies can have a range of risk and return profiles, including:

Opportunistic and value-add real estate equity strategies are typically offered through private equity real estate funds. Core and core-plus, and occasionally value-add, are typically offered through real estate investment trusts (REITs). REITs can be private or public – individual investors tend to be most familiar with public REITs, which are publicly traded stocks.

Real estate debt strategies include both publicly traded structured debt (commercial mortgage-backed securities / CMBS) and private debt strategies. Real estate debt strategies can also run the gamut from a risk perspective, from loan-to-own to first mortgages.

ROLE IN THE FUND'S PORTFOLIO

Real estate is expected to be a diversifying asset within the Fund's overall portfolio. Note that when we refer to real estate, we mean specifically private real estate funds and private REITs. In our CIO's experience, publicly traded REITs have exhibited higher correlation with public equities and have not provided strong diversification benefits.

Real estate can also provide a degree of inflation protection, as leased assets often include rent escalation clauses in line with inflation expectations.

OUR PORTFOLIO

In our CIO's view, commercial real estate is in a tricky place at the moment. The market dynamics and outlook can be vastly different depending on the investment sector, geography, and strategy. In broad strokes, industrial property is benefiting from ongoing tailwinds and retail is recovering from recent lows, while office is challenged and multi-family is fully priced.

In this environment, depth of experience is critical. The Fund is invested with an established real estate manager that has been executing the same strategy since 2009². The portfolio is diversified across U.S. regions, with a strong tilt toward industrial properties along with certain essential retail assets.

As diversification relative to equities is a key reason the Fund invests in real estate, this investment is income-oriented. This private REIT pursues a triple net lease strategy, and the tenants are almost exclusively large investment-grade companies.³

Although not guaranteed, the investment manager also seeks to designate distributions as return of capital where possible, improving the tax-efficiency of the investment income.