Oklahoma Teachers’ Retirement System is to invest $300m (€273.9m) in real estate in 2024, according to the pension fund’s meeting document.
Oklahoma Teachers will invest all of the capital allocated for real estate next year through funds, following the recommendations of Townsend, the pension fund’s real estate investment consultant.
The pension fund is considering placing $100m into core investments in the upcoming year, a shift from its previous approach of refraining from making any commitments to core strategies. This decision was driven by concerns over the prevailing capital market conditions and the pension fund’s commitment to exercising caution in managing risk in its real estate portfolio.
The pension fund’s core real estate investment strategy involves investing with experienced managers who have demonstrated consistent success in the sector and investing in diversified and sector-specific open-ended funds to gain exposure to a broader range of real estate assets and capitalise on emerging market trends.
For non-core real estate investments, Oklahoma Teachers plans to place $200m through strategies including lowering its allocation to property types that have been significantly affected by the pandemic, such as retail and office buildings, and growing its exposure to property types with favourable long-term growth prospects, such as industrial real estate.
According to the meeting document, Oklahoma Teachers has 23% of its $1.6bn real estate portfolio invested in industrial assets. This compares with 32% in the NCREIF ODCE Index.
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