Total real estate assets under management (AUM) in the Asia-Pacific region increased to US$726.9 billion in 2020, up from US$608.2 billion the year prior despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, representing a jump of 20% from the amount seen in 2019, according to data by real estate investor associations ANREV, INREV and NCREIF.

Globally, total real estate AUM amounted to US$4.1 trillion at the end of 2020, up from US$3.6 trillion the year before, representing a growth of 11%, with Asia-Pacific strategies accounting for 18% of the global AUM amount.

Non-listed real estate represents a significant portion of total global real estate assets under management. Of the US$$4.1 trillion total AUM, non-listed accounts for 83%, or around US$3.4 trillion, with funds comprising 46.4% of the total real estate AUM. Listed and other real estate represent 9.1% and 7.3% respectively.

In terms of Asia-Pacific AUM, ARA Asset Management and CapitaLand, are way ahead of the rest with ARA Asset Management’s Asia-Pacific AUM amounting to US$66.9 billion in 2020 and CapitaLand’s totalling US$62.9 billion. This was followed by GLP with US$42.3 billion. Only the top six in this region have an AUM of more than US$30 billion each.

CapitaLand is the first Asia Pacific manager to make into the global top 10 in tenth position, with global AUM exceeding US$100 billion.

With US$319.4 billion of real estate AUM, the Blackstone Group tops the overall global list. Their total real estate AUM increased by 15% from US$278.7 billion previously. Brookfield Asset Management posted total real estate AUM of US$211.4 billion, a surge of 5% from the previous year. In third position was Prologis, with US$148.3 billion of real estate AUM. PGIM and Nuveen conclude the quintet of managers, with US$145.6 billion and US$132.9 billion of real estate AUM respectively.

“The fact that real estate AUM not only surged during the coronavirus pandemic, but grew even faster than the year before is an incredibly encouraging sign that appetite for real estate as a diversifier in investor portfolios has not waned,” says Amélie Delaunay, director of research and professional standards at ANREV. “The findings reaffirm that the Asia-Pacific continues to attract a healthy and growing share of global real estate AUM, reflecting great confidence in the long-term outlook of the region’s property markets despite the impact of Covid-19. It is also welcome to see CapitaLand enter the global top 10 list for the first time, marking the increasing influence and weight of Asian asset managers in the real estate investment space.”