The difficult economic situation of 2022 did not have negative consequences on asset management in real estate through real estate funds and REITs. Indeed the concerns arising from energy costs and political crises, have reinforced the “desire for bricks” in global investors, provided they are well managed and capable of giving a return. Globally, the assets of listed, unlisted funds and REITs continue to increase and at the end of 2022 reached 4,450 billion euros, an increase of more than nineteen percent compared to the previous year.
The managed real estate industry has shown a good resilience and investors, albeit cautious, feel determined to continue investing their capital in real estate. These are some of the gods data that emerged in Milan from the 42nd Report 2023 on “Real estate funds in Italy and abroad”, created by Scenari Immobiliari in collaboration with Studio Casadei, which oversaw the financial analysis part.
Comparison with Europe
Even Europe has shown a good stability of the sector. With 1,895 funds and 270 operating REITs, total assets in 2022 amounted to €1,530 billion, up by more than seven percentage points. The expansive trend of recent years has strengthened and in 2022 the weight of vehicles from the old continent on the total assets in the world was close to thirty-five percent. If in Europe the turnover grew by 3.5 percent, in the first five countries (including the UK) the variation was more than ten percentage points with Germany, England and Italy the protagonists of the growth. In our country, in fact, the real estate assets held directly by the 615 active funds in 2022 reached 123 billion euros, with an increase of about thirteen percent on 2021.
“The real estate sector – he declared Mario Breglia, president of Scenari Immobiliari, opening the conference to present the Report – is demonstrating considerable resilience in the face of the difficult political-economic situation that characterizes this historical moment. Despite the rumors of crisis – some certainly interested – the fund sector continues to be resilient and attractive for Italian investors. Even during Covid, standards and values held up well and the problems seen in the States did not occur. Smart working continues to be marginal. The new working needs of the tertiary sector show the inadequacy of a large part of our tertiary assets and how there is a need for new projects not only for construction but also for planning and management. In ten years, the value of managed assets in Europe has almost tripled while the number of vehicles, which reached 1,895, grew by 75 units, driven by the growth of the French Opci and Italian funds. And the prospects for 2023 also point in the direction of continued growth”.
The sector in Italy
Come emerge dal 42nd Report of Scenari Immobiliari and Studio Casadei, the Italian real estate funds sector continues to grow steadily and its weight on the rest of the European vehicles amounts to over eleven per cent. The NAV at the end of 2022 reached 105 billion euros, with an increase of 10.2 percent on the previous year and the forecasts for 2023 are for an increase in the NAV of 4.8 percent and assets of almost six per cent, with the number of vehicles potentially reaching 635.
“In our Report – he added Francesca Zirnstein, general manager of Scenari Immobiliari – we recorded a change in the weight of the various sectors in terms of asset allocation of Italian assets under management, with growth in the residential, logistics, office and commercial sectors. From the indications that we have collected from the asset management companies that participated in the realization of the study, it emerges that the prospects for 2023 are oriented towards cautious optimism, with an increase in managed assets and diversification of portfolios compared to the current composition. In terms of the total turnover of Italian asset management companies, we are around a value of over four hundred million euros in 2022, with around 1,100 employees, while the value of the average assets for management companies is around 1.9 billion euros. In the sphere of acquisitions, there is an increase in interest in residential, up 4.6%, retail, up 3%, and offices, up 10 percentage points”. (Ticker)