Investors Seek to Pull $20 Billion From Core Real Estate Funds

Some of the biggest investors in US commercial real estate are looking to cash in before property values slide further.

A group of property funds for institutional investors ended last year with $20 billion in withdrawal requests, the biggest waiting line since the Great Recession, according to IDR Investment Management, which tracks an index of the open-end diversified core equity funds.

“It’s like the nightclub where everybody lines up to get in and then lines up to leave when it closes,” John Murray, head of global private commercial real estate at Pacific Investment Management Co., said in an interview.

Institutional investors sought to cut their exposure to some of the biggest funds at managers including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Prudential Financial Inc., according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified citing private information.

The UBS Trumbull Property Fund had a $7.2 billion queue for withdrawals — 40% of its value — as of the third quarter of 2022, according to a December presentation by Callan, a pension consultant.