The United Kingdom’s vote in June to leave the European Union has further fuelled uncertainty surrounding pre-crisis real estate funds, which are already facing pressure to sell tens of billions of pounds/euros/dollars worth of assets.

Preqin has estimated that $9.32 billion (€8.4 billion) of assets remain within 2008-vintage Europe-focused real estate funds alone, with $10.65 billion (€9.58 billion) of unrealised value among 2007-vintage funds and $9.02 billion (€8.11 billion) in 2006-vintage vehicles. This compares with $3.15 billion (€2.83 billion) of unrealised value held by 2005-vintage funds and lesser amounts for 2004- and 2003-vintage funds. The “Unrealised value for Europe-focused real estate funds” table below gives further details.

The figures raise questions about whether managers should continue to hold their pre-crisis investments — executed in the era of dramatically rising deal values — in the hope of recovering value in the long term.