International property portfolio strategies: Problems and opportunities

Formal portfolio selection strategies based on modern portfolio theory have increasingly been applied to real estate markets, despite the difficulties posed by the characteristics of property as an investment asset. As markets have “gone global”, so portfolio theory has been used to define international property portfolio strategies. Suggests that many of these studies are flawed, in that they neglect both methodological developments in portfolio theory and, critically, the economic fundamentals that drive property markets. This can lead to the adoption of investment strategies that create portfolios with a high exposure to risk. Outlines alternative approaches to global real estate investment.