The past year was a challenging investment environment, as higher interest rates and concerns about property valuations led many investors to pull back on activity until they could better understand the market dynamics. But real estate continues to have a key role to play in investors’ portfolios, offering diversification, current income and attractive risk-adjusted returns, as well as serving as an inflation hedge.

Investors’ embrace of real estate was on display in the April release of the 2024 Institutional Investors Real Estate Trends report, which collects the results of Institutional Real Estate, Inc’s Annual Investor Survey (now in its 28th year) and assesses institutional investors’ asset allocations, risk and return assumptions, expected capital flows, and real estate investment strategies for the coming year. The 2024 web-based survey was initially distributed on 28 November 2023, supplemented by email reminders and phone calls, and feedback was col