Real Assets: Forestry, Farming & Real Estate

Selected Thought Leadership on Forestry, Farming and Real Estate

Real Assets has become an area that all investors need to be familiar with and factor into their portfolio allocation decisions. Below we focus on the distinct areas of forestry and farming – including timberland investing – and real estate.

Nuveen puts the arguments forward for looking at timberland, whilst an interesting Baillie Gifford video considers how investors can benefit from advancements in food production. In real estate EDHEC-Risk Institute dives into French non-listed commercial real estate funds, whilst UBS answers ten timely questions, and PGIM Real Estate analyses the prospects for single family rental housing in the U.S. over the next decade.

Forestry and Farming

Enduring Principles Support the Case for Timberland Investing (Nuveen, Jan 2022)

Timberland is crucial as a renewable raw material for so many parts of our lives from housing to energy. Its environmental virtue is well-known, and it has a developing investment arena catering to evolving markets and investor choice.

Video: Sustainable Agriculture and the Future of Food (Baillie Gifford, 2021)

The food production industry is changing. With new technologies and a requirement to become more sustainable the sector needs to look at other methods of production, providing investment opportunities in companies that make progression possible.

U.S. Timberland Investment Prospects Turn Positive (Manulife IM, Jan 2022)

For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in certain geographies

Timberland is being supported by booming residential construction, more investors realising the environmental benefits, and the helpful correlation with inflation. Indeed the road ahead looks positive for timberland at least into the mid-2020s.

Why Pensions and Net Zero Companies Should Invest in Forestry (CAIA blog, 2021)

Institutional investment in forestry was almost zero in the early 1980s and now has surpassed $100 billion. Relative to other asset classes it remains modest, but its popularity is likely to continue increasing due to attractive investment attributes.

2022 Forces That Will Shape the U.S. Rural Economy (CoBank)

The key factors shaping the U.S. rural economy over the next year are fleshed out by looking at the economic backdrop and applying it to the farm economy, examining amongst other points the effects of inflation, labour and government support.

Real Estate

Fund Selection in French Real Estate Funds (EDHEC-Risk Institute, 2021)

This study looks at the risk and return fundamentals of French non-listed commercial real estate funds to answer whether traditional investing approaches like fund selection and portfolio application are relevant for investors in this area.

Key Predictions for Real Estate Markets in 2022 (UBS AM)

UBS AM’s research team aims to answer some of the questions that are top of mind for investors in the real estate sector. They have explored ten key areas including prop tech, office markets, residential pricing, retail, and inflation.

U.S. Single Family Rental Housing (PGIM Real Estate, Jan 2022)

Single-family rental housing is a label applied to a variety of suburban rental-housing alternatives. Rising demand is expected to continue through to 2030 due to a number of supportive tailwinds and moderate supply-side risks at the national level.

Wireless Real Estate: The Tower REIT Business model (Nareit, 2021)

The towers used to support wireless networks share characteristics of real estate and in many cases are owned by REITs. This study looks at the tower business model in detail, the market structure and whether towers can be considered real estate.

India Real Estate Outlook 2022 (Knight Frank)

The commercial real estate in India is in focus here, looking at top trends such as residential, office, warehouses, REITs, and data centres. The long-term outlook for the sector in India remains robust despite the effects of Covid-19.