Just a week after global index provider the FTSE Group launched its enhanced EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate index series, more than ten large Australian investors have enquired about the new offering, the FTSE Group told InvestorDaily.
"Some of Australia's largest superannuation firms and fund managers are joining large global investors around the world in using the expanded FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate series to manage their real estate investments, and we've had strong interest from a number of others," FTSE Group Australia head of business development Julie Andrews said.
The expanded index, which now covers listed real estate in emerging markets, is a welcome enhancement for Australian investors who are very interested in the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Asia Pacific Emerging Real Estate series, Andrews said.
"These indices are quickly gaining recognition amongst Australian investors as offering the purest and most diverse representation of listed real estate markets, by both geography and property type, for tracking and benchmarking purposes," she said.
Despite recent market turmoil, real estate remains widely recognised as one of the four primary core asset classes in institutional portfolios and represents nearly 50 per cent of global wealth, FTSE figures show.
Due to interest from Australian investors in both the global real estate series and the Asia Pacific emerging real estate series, the FTSE Group will host a webinar on 28 April 2009 at 10am eastern standard time.
"The webinar will address the global real estate market, specifically listed real estate in emerging markets, and how to access it," a FTSE spokesperson said.
