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Non-listed core real estate funds offer the diversification benefits of real estate as part of a multi-asset portfolio and can provide investors with an accessible and transparent route to gain exposure to the sector. They are a maturing part of the European real estate industry that is now launching its second generation of funds. The first generation of funds faced the extreme challenges of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) head on; an experience which has resulted in a refined and reconsidered fund product for the new cycle. This paper highlights both the qualitative and quantitative benefits of core real estate funds in Europe and how they can support the investment requirements of investors. The industry offers a wide range of products to match risk/return requirements, but this report focuses on core non-listed real estate funds as a natural entry point for investors that are looking for real estate exposure.

As the financial downturn has put an increased focus on transparent and consistent reporting to investors, this one hour practical online training introduces the key building blocks to support best practice in the area of adjusted NAV calculation. The webinar includes a high level examination of using INREV Net Asset Value (NAV) guidelines, including explanations of the calculation examples.

This webinar is especially written for French speaking INREV members and/or are based in French speaking countries. Therefore the webinar will be held in French and includes the following topics:

• Understanding INREV NAV
• Walking through a calculation example
• How to report on INREV NAV and the level of disclosure
• Questions

The webinar is led by Renaud Breyer, Executive Director at Ernst & Young and member of the INREV Reporting and SDDS Committee.

This is the second in a series of academic papers that INREV will publish. Going forward INREV plans to invite the academic community to research the European non-listed real estate market in more detail.

Over the past decade, the European institutional non-listed real estate fund market has matured into an investment category that consists of 472 funds, representing €227 billion of gross asset value. But maturity cannot be measured by numbers alone. In this paper, we examine the recent evolution of the non-listed fund market with respect to transparency and performance. In line with the private equity literature, we analyse the returns and fees that investors face when investing in non-listed real estate funds. Our results show that non-listed real estate funds have delivered moderate but stable total returns over the past thirteen years. Compared to Europe’s public real estate market, the non-listed core fund index yielded an average return of 5.2% which is more than 2.0% lower than the public real estate index return, but at a risk (standard deviation) of 9.7%, which is less than a third. The total fee load of non-listed real estate funds (2.2%) is low compared to private equity (7.0%). This fee could be ened back by selecting the funds that rank highest on their sustainability performance, as our analysis shows a 2.8% return spread between the top and bottom Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) deciles. A large fraction of this return pattern, however, relates to the associated variation in fund leverage. Hence, transparency regarding non-listed fund characteristics is key and although the market is not there yet, it is gaining momentum and relevance.

INREV events offer members a wide range of seminars, conferences and roundtable discussions to stay ahead of the latest trends in the non-listed real estate funds sector.

This tutorial will inform you about the Corporate Governance Module which includes the Corporate Governance Guidelines as well as the Self Assessment tool. INREV’s objective is to establish common standards of corporate governance for non-listed real estate vehicles with institutional investors. As the corporate governance module belongs to the guideline’s best practice modules compliance is not a simple black-and-white question but an evaluation process based on the 7 INREV principles of corporate governance.

The fee and expense metrics tutorial provides an explanation of the module including the calculation and disclosure of selected fee and expanse metrics for both Total Expense Ratios (TER) and the Real Estate Expense Ratio (REER).

The liquidity self tutorial provides an overview of the liquidity and secondary market trading aspects of the INREV Guidelines 2014.

It examines the different aspects of the liquidity guidelines as well as the objectives and the adoption framework.

Jef Holland presents the INREV NAV module of the INREV Guidelines, including background information, adjustments, computation, disclosure requirements and Q&A.

John Ravoisin presents the valuation module of the INREV Guidelines, including guidance on the independence, qualification of the extranl valuer, valuation fees, the valuation process, external and internal valuations.

INREV actively engages our Young Professional members with dedicated events, foundational training courses and a variety of communication tools. We encourage our Young Professional members to get involved in our organisation, and hope you will join us at an event or join the conversation online.