NORTH AMERICA – The Washington State Investment Board has approved a new long-term targeted allocation for real estate, increasing it from 13% to 15%.

This will mean the pension fund will have the capability of investing $875m (€648.5m) of new capital into real estate in future.

Real estate was the only asset class to be given an increased allocation. 

This capital will be moved out of the long-term private equity allocation target. 

All of the other pension fund's assets were unchanged.

Washington State conducts a strategic asset allocation review once every four years. 

The work on the most recent study was completed by Pension Consulting Alliance.

Washington State's real estate portfolio is currently valued at $9.25bn, as of the end of June, roughly 13.6% of the pension fund's $67.9bn in total plan assets.

According to its website, it has 67.9% of its portfolio in the US and the balance abroad. 

The largest segment of its international portfolio is in Europe, where it has invested 13.5% of its the portfolio. 

The remainder is 8.9% Latin America, 4.6% Asia and 5.2% Australia/Pacific.

The pension fund works on real estate with its consultant Hamilton Lane Advisors. 

It invests in the five main traditional property types of office, industrial, retail, hotels and apartments.

It has also made some investments with specialised property types, such as manufactured housing, self-storage and healthcare.

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