Hodes Weill & Associates and Cornell University’s sixth annual Institutional Real Estate Allocations Monitor has found a slight increase in institutional investor sentiment for the first time in five years.

The report, which is based on the views of 208 institutions with an aggregate $11 trillion (€9.63 trillion) in AUM and portfolio investments in real estate totalling approximately $1 trillion (€880 billion), includes a “Conviction Index”, which measures institutional investors’ attitude towards real estate. Following four years of steady decline, the index has increased from 4.9 to 5.1, representing the first year-over-year increase since the survey launched in 2013. The rise in positive opinion has occurred despite the survey’s respondents citing concerns over higher interest rates, asset valuations, geopolitical risks, and a general consensus that the sector is late in the cycle.

Growth in investor sentiment was consistent acros