Each year, PIR publishes a new edition of the Australian Property Funds Industry Survey, which we believe is Australia’s most comprehensive property funds database.

Overview

This year’s survey profiled 76 managers with total assets under management of about A$286 billion (US$211 billion) (see “Survey vital statistics”, page 32). This is the largest total recorded since the global financial crisis. To avoid double-counting, our analysis excludes A$27 billion (US$20 billion) of AUM held in property security funds, which invest in other property funds.

Excluding property security funds, headline AUM growth was approximately 8 percent year-on-year. Like-for-like growth, which PIR adjusts for changes in manager participation, was similar, at 9 percent.

Capital structure

At present, debt costs are very low: REITs can access the long-duration (>10 years) US pr