Real estate investments strategies for pension funds, why do they not invest more?

Abstract: The financial crisis in 2008 was a source for asset managers to find new, different assets to optimize their portfolios. During the last couple of years the pension funds have slowly started to further invest in alternative assets, such as real estate assets. Still, these investments in alternative assets only represent a small part of the total capital of the pension funds. This study examines the investment strategies that the Swedish National pension funds are using. The purpose is to find out why they don’t invest more in real estate. The Swedish National pension funds are regulated through Swedish law with investment rules that regulate the allocation of capital. However there is no specific investment rule regarding real estate investments. The other investment rules limits the Swedish National pension funds to invest more in real estate. Nevertheless the result of this study shows how the Swedish National pension funds are positive to increase investments in real estate. The conclusion of this study pinpoints that the Swedish National pension funds investment rules should be investigated and changed. Done correctly, this change could lead to more investment in real estate in the future by the Swedish National pension funds.