ALFI launches REIF Survey 2023

Highlights of the study

• REIFs surveyed grew significantly from last year to 706 vehicles
• Multi-sector accounts for more than half of all fund strategies for the first time, at 51%
• Europe remains the dominant destination for REIF investments surveyed, attracting 77% of global investments compared to global invested funds at 8% and the Asia-Pacific region attracting 7%
• Smaller funds continue to make up the majority of REIFs with 45.5% with a NAV of under EUR 100 million. That represents a decrease of 1.2 percentage points compared to last year's survey results (46.7%).

The 17th edition of the ALFI Luxembourg Real Estate Investment Funds Survey confirms the continuous AUM growth in REIFs observed since the first survey in 2005. Europe remains dominant as the investor base and primary investment location of REIFs, with Luxembourg leading with its RAIF structure, demonstrating the continuing appeal of Luxembourg as a location to establish and maintain multi-geographical and multi-sectoral regular REIFs.

Christophe Masset, Partner, Deloitte Luxembourg, commented: “In the backdrop of a challenging 2023 real estate market, Luxembourg still appears as a resilient location for REIFs, notably benefiting from the flexibility of its REIF framework with a notable prevalence of RAIF and as well SCS/SCSp structures (59% of the REIFs surveyed). In conclusion, the confirmed attractiveness of the REIF regulatory framework positions Luxembourg as a strategic hub in navigating dynamic market conditions.”

Emmanuel Gutton, Director Legal and Tax of ALFI, added: “ALFI’s annual REIF survey provides a solid glimpse into the Luxembourg real estate investment fund market and its trends. We are pleased to note a substantial increase in the number of surveyed REIFs in the 2023 edition, reaching 709 vehicles, up 12% compared to 2022. As of Q3 2023, according to CSSF data it is revealed that assets under management have reached EUR 135.9 bn for 320 regulated REIF, reflecting an increase of 3.5% compared to the corresponding period last year. It is worth noting that the CSSF data excludes manager-regulated REIF, which are included in ALFI’s survey."

Other topics and findings of the research were:

Investment strategies: Multi-sector remains the most popular strategy for funds, accounting for 51%. Single strategies, including Residential which remains at 12% represent 37% of REIFs focus. Office strategies have continued to decrease year on year since 2020, down to 5% in 2023. All Sectors strategies have also continued their decline to 11%.

Investment style: Allocation to “Core” strategies has increased to 33% and remains the largest strategy. “Core+” and “Opportunistic” have also increased to 24% and 20%, respectively at the expense of “Value-Added” strategies which have decreased to 24%.

Investment geographies: 77% of the surveyed REIFs are invested in Europe, a slight uptick from 2022 (75%), while Asia-Pacific regions and globally focussed REIFs account for 7% and 8% respectively, similar to last year.

Investor base: 81.3% of investors come from Europe, with the remainder predominantly from the Americas (8%). 6.4% are highly diversified (up from 4.7% last year), confirming the continuous global appeal of the Luxembourg fund regimes. There is a continuing trend towards a larger number of funds having an investor base of more than 100 investors (6% in 2023 compared to 2% in 2022), however Luxembourg-domiciled funds are predominantly used for small groups of institutional investors.

Fund size: In line with the survey findings of previous years, smaller funds continue to make up the majority of REIFs, with 45.5% falling in the category of a NAV of under EUR 100 million. However, in contrast to the trend observed in recent surveys, there is a slight decrease in the number of funds with a target NAV higher than EUR 400 million, representing 34.8% in 2023 compared to 37.8% in 2022. The number of funds targeting a loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of less than 20% has also fallen to 40.5%, in another reverse trend from previous years.

Liquidity: The trend of a slight decline in closed-ended funds since 2021 continues in 2023, down to 63%. There is a strong appetite for open-ended funds which have increased from 74 funds last year to 111 this year.

Fund structures: SCS/SCSp legal structures continue to be the most popular among the funds surveyed this year, representing 59%. While the SIF regime remains popular in Luxembourg (30%), RAIFs are now the most popular fund vehicle at 31% (up from 28 in 2022).

Download the ALFI Luxembourg Real Estate Investment Funds Survey 2023.

For more information, please contact:

Marina Fraser Harris / Sophie Svestad / David Read
Peregrine Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3040 0867
alfi@peregrinecommunications.com

Luigi Salerno
Head of Communications,
ALFI Tel: +352 22 30 26 – 1
communications@alfi.lu

Notes to editors:

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) represents the face and voice of the Luxembourg asset management and investment fund community, championing mainstream, private assets and sustainable investing. ALFI seeks to promote Luxembourg’s fund sector internationally, and to cultivate for the benefit of its members a collaborative, dynamic and innovative ecosystem underpinned by the most robust regulatory framework. ALFI’s ambition is to empower investors to meet their life goals.

Created in 1988, the Association today represents over 1,500 Luxembourg domiciled investment funds, asset management companies and a wide range of business that serve the sector. These include depositary banks, fund administrators, transfer agents, distributors, legal firms, consultants, tax advisory firms, auditors and accountants, specialised IT and communication companies.

Luxembourg is the largest fund domicile in Europe and a worldwide leader in cross-border distribution of funds. Luxembourg domiciled investment funds are distributed in more than 70 countries around the world.