In the newly created role, Ms Peng will be responsible for providing analytical support, research, and financial analysis across the core functions of the TH Real Estate business in Australia, including equity investment and asset management.

Ms Peng has more than five years’ experience across property and financial analysis. She joins from St George Bank, where she was a real estate analyst and responsible for managing a portfolio of mid-market and institutional property clients with debt requirements up to A$100m. Prior to that she worked at ANZ Corporate and Commercial Banking as a credit analyst, conducting due diligence and in-depth credit analysis of new and existing property investment deals across diverse asset classes.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr Evans said: “We are delighted to welcome Lisa to the team. Her strong analytical skills and extensive experience in creating and running detailed financial analysis for international real estate investment make her a valuable addition to our local business.

“This appointment reaffirms our commitment to further growing our business locally and will provide critical resourcing to support the growth of the business in Australia.”

Established in Australia in April 2014, TH Real Estate has built a portfolio of Australian real estate assets of around A$1.04b. The real estate specialist has also advised some of Australia’s largest institutional investors on their international real estate investments, including AustralianSuper and the FutureFund.

“Our focus over the past three years has been on building a successful, long-term business locally, having identified Australia as a key part of our Asia-Pacific strategy. We are committed to continuing to build sustainable relationships with established partners and investors within the region,” Mr Evans said.

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Alice Breheny

Australian superannuation funds continue to prioritise exposure to global property, with retail opportunities in particular catching the attention of local institutional investors, according to global real estate heavyweight TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate).

TH Real Estate is one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers and the world’s leading retail investor with AUD$33.7bn* in retail assets under management. This week the firm launched new research – Picking Tomorrow’s World Cities – which advocates a city-level approach to real estate investment.

By adopting a proprietary filter process, TH Real Estate has scored over 200 European cities against individual economic and environmental fundamentals, as well as a global risk model, to identify cities that are ‘future proof’ for investors.

The report is the next instalment of TH Real Estate’s global megatrends research, and follows the release in November last year of The ‘Famous Five’: The five demographic megatrends that real estate cannot ignore.

The latest research examines the economic fundamentals of a range of ‘future proof’ cities, revealing a wide range of findings including:

• Istanbul will be the fastest growing city in terms of GDP growth change between 2010-2030
• London’s retail market will be the largest retail market in Europe by 2030, with retail sales worth US$600bn
• Switzerland’s Basel is the most productive city in terms of GDP per capita, followed by Geneva, Oslo, Zurich and Stockholm

According to TH Real Estate, the impact of megatrends – long-term structural trends – is likely to be much more notable at a city level, than nationally. Therefore the most successful real estate strategy is likely to be city-based, underpinned by structural, long-term trends.

Alice Breheny, Global Co-Head of Research at TH Real Estate said: “Challenging market conditions and evolving investor requirements mean we are increasingly looking at longer-term drivers of real estate performance. A city-based real estate strategy, underpinned by long-term, structural trends – that strikes the right balance of risk and diversification, while taking advantage of short-term pricing opportunities – will be best positioned for above-average portfolio level returns, lower-than-average volatility and modest downside risk, for long-term investors.”

Nick Evans, TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia said: “Australian institutional investors are showing increasing appetite for international real estate, in particular retail property, due to its low volatility, long lease terms and diversity of tenant base. While a range of opportunities exist across international markets, on the ground expertise is essential to ensuring any investment delivers the appropriate returns.”

For core investment strategies TH Real Estate suggests cities that score well on key fundamentals today (Defensive Cities) and those that score well today and tomorrow (Defensive Growth Cities). These are the cities TH Real Estate expects to capture an even greater share of global output and demand in the future.

Additionally, there are some cities which do not score well in traditional real estate terms today, but whose growth rates cannot be ignored (Growth Cities). With the largest real estate markets typically closely-correlated, driven by financial and business services, these offer a significant diversification benefit and the potential to further enhance returns.

Investors favour retail for stable, long-term income

The European market presents solid opportunities for Australian institutional investors. However, TH Real Estate believes investments should not be made indiscriminately and that understanding of the individual markets, their differing trends and consumer behaviour is essential.

Nick Evans, TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia, said tailored investment approach can be a compelling solution for large institutional investors looking to make a move in global real estate, providing them with the flexibility, exposure and returns they need.

Click here to view the full report Picking Tomorrow’s World Cities.

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Nick Evans

Global real estate group TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate) has earmarked 2015 as a year of resurgence for global real estate investing by Australian institutional investors – with Australian super funds leading the charge in search of long term stable income opportunities outside Australia.

Speaking at a briefing in Sydney today, Executive Director and Head of TH Real Estate’s Australian business, Nick Evans, said key demographic trends are impacting the investment decisions of the world’s largest investors including pension funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds.

However, Australia’s fast growing super funds are in the box seat with a series of demographic megatrends converging on Asia and key gateway global cities.

According to recent data from Rice Warner*, Australia’s top ten super funds are on track to each amass assets of more than $100bn.

“Australian superfunds are rapidly joining the ranks of the world’s largest investors – yet at the same time fast growing out of the domestic real estate market,” Mr Evans said.

“Funds are also searching for better investment solutions for an increasingly ageing member base – people who want secure income at a reasonable level of risk to support a lengthy retirement.”

Demographic Megatrends

Earlier this month, TH Real Estate launched its inaugural global  ‘megatrends’ report, which outlines why the real estate industry needs to be more focused on bigger picture trends and insights – those that will impact the future use and demand for real estate globally over years and decades.

The report highlights five demographic megatrends that TH Real Estate believes will have the greatest impact on real estate:

• Urbanisation
• The rise of the global middle class
• Shift of economic power from the West
• Ageing demographics
• Global interconnectedness

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