Graeme Newell is professor of real estate investment at the University of Western Sydney in Australia. He also is currently executive director of the International Real Estate Society. Newell has strong links to the real estate industry, both in Australia and overseas. He recently prepared a major report for the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA), The Significance of Real Estate in Asian Pension Funds, and presented the findings in September at VIP – Asia Investor Roundtable, a conference jointly sponsored by Institutional Real Estate, Inc. and the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA). Newell spoke with Dr. Jennifer Molloy, editor of The Letter – Asia Pacific, to discuss the findings.

Tell us a bit about your background and the real estate focus at the University of Western Sydney.

I am professor of real estate investment at UWS. I am mainly interested in applied real estate research, working closely with the property ind