Real estate comes of age

Real estate has gained wider acceptance as a legitimate institutional investment. The asset class continues to grow and adopt many of the features of the broader capital markets. International strategies, private equity strategies [with general partner - limited partner promoted fee structures], public REIT corporate governance, structured debt products (commercial mortgage-backed securities and commercial real estate collateralized debt obligations), hedge funds, as well as commercial real estate index-based derivatives are among the topics covered in this issue. Today real estate must compete in the alternative space with private equity, hedge funds, infrastructure and more. Yet, as several of the articles in this edition conclude, real estate retains its distinct features as an asset class; the role of real estate as a portfolio risk reducer looks sustainable over the long-term. Over long and short time periods, its return patterns are rarely in close synchronization with stocks and bonds, despite the adoption of the financial tools and techniques of the broader capital markets. This paradox-further integration with the broader capital markets, yet distinct and separate financial behavior-is the underlying theme of nearly all the articles in the issue.