PGGM’s Gerwin Holland, a senior portfolio manager, and Hans op’t Veld, head of listed real estate , joined REIT.com for a video interview in Chicago at REITWeek 2013: NAREIT’s Investor Forum.
PGGM is a Dutch pension fund. Holland and op’t Veld discussed how the global real estate markets have changed over the years. They also offered advice to investors looking to invest overseas.
“I think that what we’re seeing right now, throughout the world really, is that there is a lot of liquidity, and that is certainly helping markets. We see a lot of liquidity, which drives investors to look for yield. That’s how we are positioned to take advantage of that,” op’t Veld said.
Both opt’t Veld and Holland said the real estate cycle is moving from west to east.
“It’s now driven by liquidity, so you’ll see that liquidity is finding its way to yielding assets,” said Holland.
The pair also gave advice to investors looking to invest in global real estate.
“It’s quite simple. If you want to invest in a transparent manner, if you want governance, if you want returns to be good, and with some liquidity, then you have to invest in listed real estate securities,” op’t Veld said.
Additionally, he said that within real estate it is important that investors look at the quality of the cash flows that are coming in.
“I think that what we’ve learned in the last couple of years is that it’s incredibly important and I think it will continue to be that way,” op’t Veld said.