Times have been very good for investors. That’s the good news. The bad? They’re about to get tough.

The price of property in Asia has, like one of the region’s many skyscrapers, been rising without pause. Now many investors think it has topped out, which means managers will have to work hard for their clients. Gains will be eked rather than easy.

“It is almost certain that real estate will offer lower returns over the next cycle than it has in the last 10 years,” warns Shaowei Toh, head of research and strategy for Asia at UBS Asset Management.

More than a few managers share those sentiments. Although real estate has outperformed as an asset class globally, notably in the vintage years of 2013 and 2014, 50 percent of investors and 48 percent of managers believed the property market was at a peak heading into 2018, according to a study of 215 managers released in March by Preqin.

One major factor is the amount of capital that has chased core hold