Real estate funds, assets growing in 2022: in Italy +13% to 123 billion

A 2022 of growth for asset management in real estate through real estate funds and Reits, despite the difficult scenario that we have seen for the economic situation and the financial markets. Indeed, according to the 42nd report on real estate funds produced by Scenari Immobiliari and Studio Casadei, “concerns deriving 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”.

The data say that in Europe there was “a good stability for the sector: with 1,895 funds and 270 operating REITs, total assets in 2022 amounted to 1,530 billion euros, up by more than seven percentage points. The trend expansionary trend in recent years has strengthened and in 2022 the weight of vehicles from the old continent on total assets in the world was close to thirty-five per cent. If in Europe turnover grew by 3.5 per cent, in the first five countries (including the UK) the change was more than ten percentage points with Germany, England and Italy leading the growth.In our country, in fact, the real estate assets held directly by the 615 active funds in 2022 reached 123 billion euro, an increase of approximately thirteen percent on 2021”.

“The real estate sector – said Mario Breglia, president of Scenarios Immobiliari, by 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 affected… – the fund sector continues to be resilient and attractive for Italian investors. Even during Covid, the maintenance of fees and values ​​was good and the problems seen in the States did not arise. 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”.

According to the Report, the Italian real estate fund sector continues to grow steadily and its weight on the rest of European vehicles amounts to over 11%. 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 – added Francesca Zirnstein, general manager of Scenarios Real estate – we recorded a change in the weight of the various sectors in terms of asset allocation of Italian assets under management, with growth in residential, logistics, offices and commercial. 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 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 average asset value for management companies is around 1.9 billion euros. In the context of acquisitions, interest in residential is growing, up 4.6 percent, retail, up three percent, and offices, up 10 percentage points”.