We live in strange and unprecedented times. It is natural, therefore, for investors to target sectors and assets that provide high-certainty, low-volatility income streams. But is there a danger that many of today’s “safe” investments — by virtue of their very popularity — will become tomorrow’s risk-laden allocations?

As soon as the pandemic took hold last year, businesses and markets around the globe found themselves having to adjust. Remote working away from the office became the norm, with an increased reliance on technology for communications, monitoring and collecting data.

The European non-listed real estate industry has more than doubled over the past 20 years. Today, the asset class has grown to a net asset value of €217 billion (€288 billion gross asset value). In 2009, it stood at €89 billion and €154 billion, respectively.

Increasingly, investors and managers recognise that they need to engage with their various stakeholders over climate-risk exposure. However, there are still two hurdles holding back progress in carbon footprint exposure reporting.

I first met Larry Hull 37 years ago, at a State Association of County Retirement Systems conference in Bakersfield, California, United States. I was only 33 and working as a regional vice president for Equitec Institutional Realty Advisers, which was at that time an emerging real estate investment management concern.

Residential property prices everywhere in Western Europe are at peak level. Even the coronavirus pandemic has done little to change that — prices kept climbing throughout the past year. In Germany, for instance, prices of existing apartments have gone up by 11.8 percent year-on-year during the first quarter of 2021, according to the Empirica research institute.

Retail is close to finding a floor in the UK, with continental Europe close behind it.

The hotel sector has weathered the COVID-19 crisis thanks to support from its lenders, but its recovery is being threatened by the caution being displayed by traditional lenders.

Savills has predicted that European prime logistics yields will move in by –25 basis points this year, reaching a record low.

Revelop has raised SEK 2.1 billion (€206 million) following a final close for its fifth investment fund, Revelop V, making it the largest Swedish real estate fund in seven years.