retail

Investor scrutiny of Australia's retail sector is higher than ever, says QIC’s Matthew Strotton, but physical retail remains strong.

The US retail market shows signs of life as fundraising ticks up and specialty managers zero in on grocery-anchored tenants.

Following positive return performances in 2018, family office allocations to the strategy increased by 2.1 percentage points – more than any other asset class.

The eighth offering in the opportunistic real estate series, which included commitments from Asian investors for the first time, raised a total of $1.3bn in equity.

The majority of the retail funds terminating before 2019 have failed to liquidate due to the poor performance of the retail sector, an INREV survey has found.

Stuart Sziklas will join the firm as head of US custom accounts on September 3, and will lead the portfolio managers overseeing $10 billion across the firm’s separately managed accounts.

The global real estate manager said while tenant bankruptcies have resulted in a $150m loss since 2018, it has a plan to reposition its retail portfolio with more resilient tenants.

QIC’s chief economist, Matthew Peter, gives an upbeat snapshot of the future of brick-and-mortar retail

Given a family office’s access to long-dated capital, real estate investments seem like a good fit. But management fees continue to be an area of contention.

A flurry of acquisitions this week demonstrate how the region’s brick-and-mortar shops remain in play for certain investors.