Transparency is improving, but creating a successful and diversified pan-Asian portfolio still requires local teams in multiple markets and a willingness to take on different property types and risk strategies. What progress has been made to address portfolio management challenges for Asia Pacific investors? How are the issues of transparency, benchmarking and standardisation being addressed to improve the investment environment, and what problems do investors still face?

Investors constructing and managing pan-Asian portfolios don’t have it easy. At the broadest level, there are the logistical and execution difficulties of investing across a diverse spectrum of cultures, languages, political economies and legal systems, according to Sonny Kalsi, principal with GreenOak, based in New York City. Then one must account for varying degrees of openness to foreign direct investment, as well as different accounting standards, currencies and industry conventions.