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Introduction
At the Family Office Club, we meet with hundreds of family offices and family
advisors every year to discuss their wealth management approach, what their
clients needs are, and where there are still inefficiencies in the marketplace. In
these conversations and interviews, we see a wide array of investment structures,
asset classes, and allocation strategies.
One asset class that is perhaps the most ubiquitous in the portfolios of family
offices and their ultra-wealthy clients is real estate. Of course, real estate is a broad
term that comprises both personal assets as well as real estate assets held for
investment purposes. In both personal and investment holdings families may invest
through any number of structures, be it a publicly-traded REIT, a directly-owned
portfolio of apartment buildings, or another vehicle that fits the needs of the family.
As we will share in this white paper, just over three fourths of respondents to our
Family Office Benchmarking Survey reported allocating at least 1% to real estate
and hard assets. This illustrates how common real estate is in family office
investment portfolios.
In this educational white paper, we are going to explore how and why family
offices invest in real estate, what their preferred structures are, and how different
family offices allocate to this asset class.
Residential
Residential real estate is a form of real estate that most readers are familiar
with because everyone has purchased a house, rented an apartment, or had some
interaction with residential real estate. Tenants of residential properties pay to be
able to live in the property and property owners collect rents as part of the lease
agreements with tenants. Residential properties include single-family homes, multifamily homes, apartment buildings, condominiums, luxury properties, and other
variations.
Many affluent families hold several residential properties for personal use
and for investment and diversification purposes. We have seen some families
purchasing several properties and even packages of hundreds of single family
homes. In other words, instead of buying, say, a 30-unit apartment complex, a
family may instead buy a portfolio of 30 single family homes and employ a property
manager to produce desired gains from the rent income and appreciation.
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Commercial
Commercial real estate refers to those real estate properties that are used by
businesses. While individuals and families are the typical tenants of residential real
estate properties, businesses occupy commercial properties. These businesses
range from a Bank of America branch office to a private law office and the tenant
businesses abide by leases and pay for use of the property, just like any other
resident. These leases are more complex than the leases one might have on a condo
or apartment and the agreements can vary to include obligations for the tenant to
pay for some or all of the following: property taxes, rent, insurance, required
maintenance and up-keep, or other expenses that would otherwise be covered by
the property owner.
Industrial
The last type of real estate to cover here is industrial real estate. Industrial
properties are used for manufacturing, production, assembly, storage, and related
activities. Some large institutional investors own industrial properties and lease the
property (usually under long-term agreements) to businesses that will use it for
manufacturing and production.
Out of these three typesresidential, commercial, and industrial
residential properties are fairly common among family offices because this asset
type is broad, encompassing properties like large apartment buildings, condos, and
multi-million dollar houses. There are a number of families in our network that own
commercial real estate holdings, but the complexities of operating the business,
servicing clients, collecting rents, and making sure that the building maintains full
occupancy can present challenges.
If these real estate holdings are primarily investments, rather than
properties for use by the family or for the family offices operating businesses, then
the goal is a positive return on investment. For a real estate property, this is most
commonly achieved when the propertys value appreciates. Although the recent
bursting of the real estate bubble has made some investors question the idea that
real estate investments are a sound long-term investment, traditionally real estate
has been a source of steady gains that at least keep pace with inflation and hold
tangible value. One simple explanation for why family offices like to hold real estate
is that at the end of the day, even if inflation jumps up or the stock market crashes,
your property still has some value.
If the real estate property does not appreciate or even loses value, there is
still an opportunity to notch a return on investment by renting out the property to
businesses or residents. In the wake of the financial crisis and real estate meltdown,
for example, many investors cushioned the blow to property valuations by renting
out properties. This is especially attractive if the property is purchased with a loan
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and thus the owner will have to make the monthly payments regardless of whether
the housing market collapses or the macroeconomic picture changes. Renting out
the property or otherwise monetizing the real estate can help the investor meet loan
requirements and, ideally, realize returns on the investment. The income and
appreciation qualities make real estate a mandatory allocation in many family office
portfolios.
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Individual Purchase
Many high net worth individuals purchase real estate from outside of a
pooled fund structure or sophisticated vehicle. These investments by HNW
individuals and families are usually taxable, compared to more tax efficient vehicles
or tax-exempt entities like government and corporate pension funds, endowments,
charitable foundations, etc. Of course, there are many other unique features and
characteristics of real estate investments.
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Diversification
Following the modern trend of diversified asset allocation, many families
view real estate and hard assets as an essential component of a balanced investment
portfolio. Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) has had a dramatic influence on
institutional investor allocation strategy since its architect Harry Markowitz
introduced the concept in the 1950s. An adaptation of MPT, the Yale Model, was
pioneered by the Yale endowments chief investment officer, David Swensen. The
Yale Model was adopted and emulated by many institutional investors who saw the
merits of deploying a capital away from traditional asset classes such as stocks and
bonds, in favor of alternative investments including hedge funds, private equity, and
real estate.
Although there has been notable critiques of this model, it is clear that the
emphasis on diversification and alternative investments outside of purely stocks
and bonds has become a standard for many institutional investors including family
offices. Real estate can offer unique investment attributes that we will discuss
below and that has made real estate, in many different forms and structures, a
consistent element of many family office portfolios.1
Ferri, Rick. The Curse of the Yale Model. April 16, 2012.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/2012/04/16/the-curse-of-the-yale-model/
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Long-Term Appreciation
Family offices are unique from many other types of investors in an important
way: family offices tend to have a long-term investment horizon. A single family
office does not have to distribute returns to investors like a LP fund and its
investment team often take future generations into consideration. There is
perceived to be less pressure on family offices to achieve short-term gains if there is
an opportunity for greater benefit over a longer investing period.
For example, a private equity real estate fund will be expected to distribute
capital to investors within a few years of initial investment following the typical JCurve model. The fund may own several excellent assets that are producing steady
returns and the GP expects the assets to continue to appreciate. However, investors
are paying annual management fees and agreed to lock up their capital with the
expectation of receiving outsized returns that justify the fees and illiquidity of the
fund. A family office, on the other hand, may be content holding those same assets
and reaping the steady gains while the assets appreciate in value and perhaps a
buyer materializes ten years down the road with an exceptional offer.
None of this is to say that the family office is guaranteed better performance
because of this long time horizonindeed the family office could sell at any time
and could perform worse than a fundbut the long-term mindset does offer family
offices added flexibility and a broader mandate than some other investors. Real
estate typically follows a longer investing cycle than many other assets, such as
public equities or fund investments, and thus the long-term investing view can fit
nicely with real estate and hard assets.
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Although volatility has fallen from a historic high in the midst of the financial
crisis, investors are highly sensitive to huge price swings in assets brought on by
unpredictable events in Europe like the Greek debt crisis, slowdown in China,
plummeting oil prices, and similar market-shaking events. With the notable
exception of the recent housing collapse, real estate is perceived by many family
offices that we know as an asset class with huge daily swings in pricing and extreme
volatility.
Direct Control
A broader shift in family office investing preferences has been the increased
desire to directly control various investments in the portfolio. After years of letting
the general partners fees cut into fund allocation returns, some institutional
investors are increasingly looking to direct investments. Direct investments allow
the investor to exercise complete control over the investment and manage all of the
deal processes internally while keeping all of the profits. For smaller deals, direct
investing is an effective way to buy a stake in a company, purchase real estate
properties, and make allocations toward unique opportunities.
Of course, a direct investment is not exactly a revolutionary concept; family
offices have been investing directly for centuries. But the financial crisis and the
losses on many investments have led some institutional investors to look for returns
internally, rather than relying on a third party manager and surrendering a fifth of
the profits to that fund sponsor. Furthermore, the nature of the housing collapse
Volatility S&P 500 (^VIX) Index from the Chicago Board Options Exchange via
Yahoo! Finance, as of 3:31pm EDT, July 17, 2015.
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5EVIX+Interactive#{"range":"max","allowCh
artStacking":true}
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and the staggering decline of real estate-linked investments has reminded investors
that they need to have better transparency and understanding of their investments.
Family offices, especially single family offices, are allocating more capital towards
direct investing today than ever before. The ability to directly control real tangible
assets, further influence an industry they already understand, and avoid fund
management fees is driving interest in this area.
In the past, a family office might have relied on external fund managers for its
equity holdings, real estate allocations, fund investments, and other parts of the
portfolio. Now, family offices are increasingly working to cut out external funds,
especially when doing so makes sense in order to keep investments in-house and
rely on the familys own investment team. The mass layoffs in the financial services
industry supplied ample talent to family offices looking to develop their in-house
investing capabilities. Many $1 billion+ single and multi-family offices now employ
investing professionals in multiple cities around the world with expertise that rivals
that of professionals employed by leading banks and investment firms. The direct
investment trend is an important change in how family offices deploy capital and
approach real estate investing.
Inflation Hedge
The current investing environment of historically low interest rates in the
United States and many other countries recovering from the economic recession has
driven many investors to seek inflation hedges. Gold, foreign currencies, land,
timber, real estate, and other hard assets with intrinsic value have become a
standard component of many investors portfolios.
Many of the family offices in our network view real estate as an excellent way
to ride the tide of rising asset prices and enjoy the income benefit of owning
multifamily housing, commercial buildings, and hotels.
Limited Downside
Related the previous section on inflation hedging, family offices may allocate
to real estate because, in the event of a market correction in equities or again in
housing, their downside is limited. Barring a fire or disaster destroying the
property (which would certainly be insured) the chance of a complete decimation of
the investments value is remote.
In recent years we have seen hedge funds blow up losing all or most of
their investors capital, storied firms like Lehman Brothers and AIG fail, assets
become worthless, and companies with seemingly strong balance sheets suffer
catastrophic losses that require multi-billion dollar bailouts and effectively
liquidating shareholder value. Even in 2015, we have witnessed Greece, a sovereign
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country and member of the European Union, have to request a third bailout amid
political instability, frozen banks, and a rapidly declining economy.
In the midst of all this volatility, investors would be forgiven for seeking
comfort in investments with intrinsic value and at least a limited downside. Real
estate and real asset investments provide family offices with a modicum of comfort
compared with other asset classes that have failed to provide investors with the
anticipated downside protection.
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We are sent hotel investment opportunities seemingly every week and one
key takeaway is that there is often a trade-off between optimal location, the
resulting implied risk, and optimal pricing. Of course, this is not an earth-shattering
revelation; it is fairly obvious that a great location for a hotel will command a
greater price and attract rival bidders. When family offices speak about owning or
investing in hotels they are often focused more on metropolitan locations and
disinterested in allocating to a suburban market or even a city-center location if it
isnt in a high-demand market like London, New York City, Miami, or other top
destinations.
This tends to frustrate independent sponsors, real estate developers, and
others looking to acquire or develop hotels with family office capital. Family offices
may be willing to pay top dollar for a hotel in a prime location because they are sure
that the occupancy rate will be sufficiently high to mitigate risk of bankruptcy and
distress. This means they may pay more to buy the hotel and make most of their
return by holding the property long term and accumulating income from the hotel
business. Real estate professionals are typically more focused on buying low and
making their ROI at the exit (typically a sale to a strategic buyer or investor group).
This means that they are more willing to develop a hotel or buy a hotel in a growing
market, even if it is not a top location at the moment. These investors, in contrast to
family offices, are comfortable to putting in substantial investment in the first few
years to build or remake a hotel because the ultimate payoff is expected to come
from a future sale.
There is nothing right or wrong about either approach because the strategy
is relative to the investors own objectives. Family offices are typically more risk
averse than a seasoned real estate professional or fund which wants to borrow and
build or do a leveraged buyout of an undervalued market. If the family office can
sell the hotel at a high multiple, theyre likely to at least entertain the offer but
family offices are usually less eager to sell than a limited partnership fund or a real
estate group that wants to lock in the gains through a sale.
Apartment Investments
Apartment properties are similar to hotels in that they require an active
property management team and frequent renovations, maintenance, and business
development. Investors willing to commit to that level of involvement in a real
estate investment are rewarded with the chance to earn rental income while the
propertys market value (hopefully) appreciates.
An apartment building in a growing market can quickly see a substantial rise
in market value. For example, in Portland, Oregon, a consistently cited top 10 rental
market cityand where the Family Office Club maintains an officerents have
steadily increased. The rise in rents has come as both mid-sized local businesses
and large multi-national corporations, like Nike, Inc. and the Intel Corporation,
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decided to expand hiring and open new facilities in the area. A decision by Intel to
open one of the largest plants in the world in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland, is
expected to lead to more jobs, greater demand for housing, and rising rents for
existing properties in the area.3 A savvy family can develop an apartment rental
property in a growing area and wait for the property to appreciate and rents to rise
over several years.
A real estate fund or private equity real estate fund may look to acquire
properties with a shorter time horizon than a family office, because the former is
expected to return capital to outside investors while the latter is investing its own
capital. The fund will seek to exit by selling all or part of the property to another
buyer or real estate management company, in order to distribute returns to limited
partners. Single family offices and ultra-high net worth families, on the other hand,
can hold properties through the entire investment cycle and continue to manage the
properties and collect steady income for years. This is a big strategic advantage for
affluent families and single family offices in the real estate property market and a
core driver of family investment activity in the sector.
We asked a few family offices what their views were on apartment buildings
are multifamily real estate in general. Rohan Gupta, managing director of the Gupta
Family Office, expressed optimism on multifamily real estate. "Our family office and
my company, Stuho, are both very bullish on multifamily and student housing in
particular because the asset class has shown tremendous resilience during the
downturn and has largely outperformed through the current recovery period.
Simply put, we believe housing supply is still several years away from meeting the
current housing demand."
Theen, Andrew, and Mike Rogoway. "Intel's Rapid Growth Brings Gains -- and Strains -- in
Hillsboro." http://www.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/index.ssf/2012/10/intels_mammoth_hillsboro_growt.html The Oregonian, 27 Oct.
2012.
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the team may adopt a longer time horizon for the investment with the
understanding that the short-term benefits will be largely the trophy aspect,
branding, and other less tangible assets.
A panel of family office executives answers questions from the audience at one of our
family office conference recently at the beautiful Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The
Raffles is known around the world and is a great example of a trophy real estate
asset that many family offices would value ownership of for many reasons, prestige
being one powerful factor.
Another reason that a family may make a significant real estate purchase is to
utilize the property for other purposes, beyond leasing the space or building a
profitable development. A sub-$1 billion single family office that we work with
owns a sizeable business park just outside of the city center. The single family office
uses that space primarily for its large investment operation, foundation
headquarters, and a few other offices that house business partners, legal counsel,
and other relevant personnel. This cross-purpose property allows the family to
oversee the whole family office operation within a couple blocks area. New
partners, business divisions, and strategic relationships can take advantage of the
office space and form a closer partnership with the family. This family has the
option to rent multiple floors in the financial district and spread their businesses
around the city in different office spaces, but by purchasing this cross-purpose real
estate, the family is managing its operations more easily and taking advantage of
unique advantages from this asset.
If a family can use the property as a business asset, much like one would a
private jet, then it might be worth acquiring the asset outright, even at a premium.
It is important to consider the long-term benefits, whether it is the trophy aspect or
another use of the real estate, when evaluating real estate investments.
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real estate team to help you ease yourself into real estate, rather than biting off
expensive, time-intensive, and complex real estate investments yourself.
Richard C. Wilson
Founder & CEO
The Family Office Club
Key Biscayne FL
http://FamilyOffices.com
Theodore OBrien
Managing Director
The Family Office Club
New York, NY
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More than 25 Family Office & Real Estate Executives Speakers Including:
Gary Monroe
Gilder Office For Growth
Tim Wang
Clarion Partners
Christopher Moore
CMS Capital
William Tickle
Ballentine Partners
Candice Beaumont
L Investments