GERMANY - The percentage of German institutions investing in real estate has increased four-fold over the last year and the interest in infrastructure has also gone up, a survey by IPE Institutional Investment has found.
Some 120 institutional investors - 35% of which were pension funds - took part in the online survey carried out by IPE Institutional Investment, a German sister publication to IPE Real Estate.
While in 2008 only 20% of those surveyed noted they had increased their real estate portfolio, 80% did so in 2009.
Most of the new investments in the asset class went into Spezialfonds (47%) and 8% into direct real estate.
A further 20% went into other investment funds and the remaining 5% was placed in "other vehicles", including REITs.
Over 14% of the pension companies who responded to this question said they were already investing in REIT structures while a further 10% are currently looking at it.
The survey also found there is an "increase in interest in infrastructure". Approximately 19% of the pension vehicles already invest in this asset class and 43% are looking into an investment.
In comparison, from the total sample of surveyed only 24% of institutional investors said they were looking into infrastructure which makes the interest among pension funds particularly pronounced.
If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Julie Henderson on + 44 (0)20 7261 4602 or email julie.henderson@ipe.com
