Private Real Estate’s Billion Dollar Club

“The scale of Billion Dollar Club investors’ involvement with the asset class affords them a lot of influence in the industry,” Moylan says. (Photo: F. Bukajlo/Image & Co.)

LONDON—Collectively, their numbers are small, while at the same time outsized. Preqin’s Billion Dollar Club comprises just 433 members globally with $1 billion or more allocated to private real estate, representing 13% of the total number of institutional investors in the asset class. However, as of May of this year, they account for 84% of the institutional capital allocated to the industry, and collectively hold $39 trillion in assets under management.

“Institutional allocations to real estate are dominated by a small group of investors which allocate large amounts to the asset class,” says Andrew Moylan, head of real estate products at Preqin. “Typically comprising the largest investors in terms of overall AUM, the Billion Dollar Club has seen its ranks swell in recent years, as investors seek the income opportunities, strong returns and low correlation to other asset classes of real estate investments.” Numbering just 376 members three years ago, the club has grown by15% since 2014 to reach its present size.