Message from the CEO

This time last year I announced our intention to embed a global approach into all our initiatives. This was to reflect the natural development of the industry but also to support the further flow of capital to Europe by engaging with the other regions. I am pleased to report that we have made great strides towards these ambitions in 2013. In October, we launched the Global Funds Real Estate Index, the first index to measure performance of non-listed property funds on a global basis. This index has been developed in collaboration with ANREV and NCREIF, who have been great allies for all our global initiatives this year. This includes the White Paper for the INREV Guidelines, which was released in October and continues to be out in the market for consultation. It is our intention to for the Guidelines to be the basis for a global standard. ANREV has consulted with its members in Asia and we are also reaching out to the US to get their input.

Back on home soil, we’ve been encouraged by the response from our members. We had around 250 attendees at our INREV Guidelines workshops offered in London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Munich. I want to thank them for their important input. This is vital as these Guidelines are there to make business for investors and fund managers more efficient, and will only work with industry-wide acceptance. If you have not already read and responded to the White Paper, please do so before 31 December 2013.

Networking and education also continues to be an important aspect of our work here in Europe. It is remarkable to think that with events and training courses, we offered 46 possibilities for members to meet in 2013. This included new formats for our Young Professionals such as the get togethers and the Link and Learn events. It is the end of a busy year and we are proud of the progress we have made. This is reflected in member numbers which are now at a record 358, which is a net gain of nine on the year. We remain focused on the quality of our membership in order to ensure that we continuously grow our investor base.

I would like to thank all our members for the support they have shown INREV in 2013, with a special thanks to our Management Board, committee and working group members. I wish you and your families a wonderful festive period.