WSJ: For pensions, difficulty of valuing real estate during a pandemic

Valuing a wide-ranging basket of real estate assets, always difficult, has been made tougher with the divergent near-term impacts emanating from the coronavirus pandemic, not to mention the prospect of a long-term, sustained transformation consumer behavior.

“The scarcity of tra­di­tional data points means es­ti­mated val­ues may not price in the true im­pact of the pan­demic, said Christy Fields, a man­ag­ing prin­ci­pal with con­sul­tant Meketa In­vest­ment Group.”

With US public pensions already facing a shortfall estimated at greater than their entire $4Tr holdings, properly marking the 6.1% share in real estate (+60% over the past 13 years) takes on added import.

Rebuilding trust...

At a time when many are content with calling balls and strikes, Peter Kraus and Gregg Schoenberg are masters of delving into the second and subsequent order impacts of what transpires on the field of play, as evidenced by Peter's latest edition in his podcast series "Elephant in the Room" where the duo explore, among other things, trust and transparency in the financial markets, as well as fintech, ESG and asset management.