GLOBAL - Global fund managers own $178.6bn (€131bn) of real estate in Asia Pacific, close to a quarter of their total assets under management, according to ANREV.

The association of the Asian real estate funds industry also found that the largest fund manager in the region was Morgan Stanley, with assets under management of $19.5bn, followed by Singapore's CapitaLand Financial ($16.0bn) and Australia's AMP Capital Investors ($12.4bn).

The fund manager with the largest global holdings was ING Real Estate Investment Management, with $87.1bn of real estate assets under management worldwide, of which $10.4bn was in Asia Pacific.

The AsiaProperty/ANREV Asian Fund Managers Survey 2010 showed that the 48 respondents managed 188 non-listed funds in Asia and 763 indirect vehicles globally.

The survey also found that 83.6% of investors in non-listed real estate funds were institutional investors, with only 8% of investment coming from retail investors. The remainder was made up by managers' co-investments.

The largest single type of institutional investor was pension funds, comprising 43% of the total investment.

Jeremy Stewardson, executive director at ANREV, said: "This annual survey gives us a clearer picture of the size and composition of the fund manager market in Asia.

"It also adds to the transparency of the market on an individual level, with investors and fund managers able to understand more about the main players in the market."

The risk profile of Asian property funds is fairly diverse between core, value-added and opportunity funds, according to ANREV.

Core is the preferred approach at 40.8%, while opportunity is the second most common style at 38.5% of funds investing in Asia Pacific.