In my experience, long-term institutional property investors are primarily interested in income-producing standing investments. They would also like to manage risk accordingly, and global diversification is considered a way of achieving this. As only very few institutions are large enough to own a well-diversified global direct property portfolio, many investors have sought exposure through non-listed funds, preferably with a “core” strategy.

Until recently, liquidity has not been a major focus, but the global financial crisis has led to an increased awareness of illiquidity issues. Highlighted as the “number one surprise” of the downturn by participants at the 2011 INREV Conference in Venice, liquidity is likely to be increasingly important in the future. Moreover, the longer-term impact of the move from defined benefit provision to defined contribution in many pension schem