Maryland to remove REITs from its real estate target allocation

The $52.7 billion Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (SRPS) will remove REITs from its real estate target allocation going forward, per a new asset allocation policy adopted by the investment committee on May 21.

The policy was one of four alternative policies presented by Meketa Investment Group for the committee’s consideration.

Meeting documents show the REIT allocation overlaps significantly with the public equity portfolio, with REITs accounting for 3 percent of the aggregate public equity portfolio.

In addition, 239 names overlapped between the dedicated REITs portfolio and the public equity portfolio, and 1.7 percent of the market value of the public equity portfolio overlapped with the REIT portfolio.

While REITs were a helpful tool as the real estate allocation was grow