The Changing Face of Real Estate Investment
Management

Abstract

The real estate investment management industry has been undergoing a process of change over the last two decades. The market is far more transparent than it once was due to the availability of far more, and more detailed, market information. Combined with the increasing integration of real estate with the broader capital markets, this has led to a market that reacts more quickly to events, exhibits more volatility, and in which the nature of risk has changed. These ongoing changes in the market, combined with the lessons of the financial crisis, have resulted in risk management becoming a topic of primary importance in real estate investment. Changes in the nature of real estate risk and the increased emphasis on risk management have the potential to create substantial changes in the real estate investment management industry going forward. The greatest challenge for the industry will be cultural—an understanding of risk, its sources, and its management will need to become central to investment decision making.