WHY THE US AND SUB ASSET CLASSES IN REAL ESTATE

 Unlike many areas in Europe, the U.S. population has steady growth every year. The forecast is for 335 million people to live in the U.S. by 2020 (both from natural growth and immigration) and close to 400 million by 2050. 

Even though the U.S. economy is growing, the middle class still hasn't fully recovered from the 2008 crisis and many people have had to forego the American dream of owning their own home, so they are renters by necessity. Additionally, two segments of the population (Millennials and Baby Boomers), each for their own reasons, have shown preferences to renting over owning real estate. This creates strong and sustainable demand for U.S. multi-family properties.

Special attention is allocated to multi-family properties as this asset class in our view is the safest and less prone to volatility, as compared to other sectors of the real estate market. Additionally, since RealAssets'™ strategy is to strive to provide its investors steady cash flow as well as capital gains on every investment, then the obvious safer choice would be multi-family properties. 

Attention is usually paid to the suburbs of the major metro areas and secondary markets, as these markets tend to "fly below the radar". Therefore, Investment Grade properties situated in these locations and which meet certain demographics criteria, provide higher yields at almost the same risk as the major metro CBDs. Demographics, diversity of employers, easy access to public transportation or major highways as well as regional economic drivers are the keys to success.

On tangent asset classes, such as student housing and assisted living – there is also predicted increased demand.

The advancement of distribution and delivery technologies along with improved communications capabilities shifts the equilibrium and demand for distribution centers, data centers, office and retail that requires a fresh look at emerging opportunities in these asset classes.

Due to its stability and the realization that in today's global economy the U.S. market and U.S. real estate are possibly the only haven for investors globally, the U.S. market is a major draw to investors worldwide.

Employing its “Best in Class” multi-manager approach, RealAssets™ will invest in the above asset classes selectively, and will build a portfolio that as its backbone will mainly rely on cash flowing properties located in major and secondary U.S. metro areas. Particularly, the RealAssets™ platform will look to invest in locations where the team has previous experience and is supported by robust market and employment fundamentals as well as the demographics range to match.