Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions (LAFPP) has put on hold its decision to commit $30m to the Exeter US Industrial Value Fund V fund due to market valuation uncertainty.
The $21.3bn pension fund, which had approved the commitment in December last year, said the decision was due to the uncertainty surrounding real estate property values in the US as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to industry sources, LAFPP is one of the first US public pension funds to take such a decision. More are expected to follow as property values decline in the coming months.
US real estate values fell 0.39% in Q1, according to the NCREIF NPI index, with the hotel and retail sectors hit hardest, dropping by 4.75% and 3.22%, respectively.
LAFPP also said it had added $25m to its $288m global real estate investment trust index account managed by AllianceBernstein and Principal Real Estate Investors, due to the decline in real estate investment values.
LAFPP, which currently has 8.86% of its total assets in real estate, is also carrying out a new asset allocation study and consultant RVK is scheduled to present a proposed new asset allocation plan at a board meeting on 18 June.
A previous version of this story incorrectly said LAFPP had also suspended a commitment to the NREP Nordic Strategies Fund IV fund. The mistake was due to an error in the source document.
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