REITs offer investors a middle way between the high-risk, high-return vulture funds and stodgy, low-return Japanese property developers, such as those attached to the Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo keiretsu.
Pension funds also have been emboldened by the steady rise of commercial-property values since 2009 and a winnowing of some of the worst-performing funds.
The closure was the first in the 40-year history of open-ended property funds and prompted an outcry.
ECONOMIST: The peculiar flaws of German open-ended property funds
Sharia-compliant property funds, in particular, are increasingly being used in the U.K. and are promoted by many institutions.
FORBES: Islamic Funds - Sharia Law and Investment Structures
That is how some peddlers of Germany's open-ended property funds have responded to reactions, verging on panic, to the closure of two such funds since early December.
ECONOMIST: The peculiar flaws of German open-ended property funds
The sales effort is a way to reduce exposure to some of the high-risk, high-return property funds that got scuffed up during the financial crisis, said Timothy Walsh, director of the New Jersey Division of Investment, which manages the state's pension money.
Then came WR Berkley (four funds), a small property-casualty insurer.
Real-estate investment trusts and specialised private-equity funds, which have been scrambling to buy property in swanky districts of big cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, where prices are booming, also have lots of debt.
If the credit squeeze spreads and borrowing becomes harder, not just for housing but across other parts of the debt markets (such as commercial property or credit cards) money-market funds could withdraw even further from lending to banks.
Savings funds have a rising appetite for less liquid, higher-risk assets such as private equity and property.
"Some local authorities have 'fine-tuned' their property policies by allowing home buyers to borrow more from public housing funds, causing a rebound in home prices, " Zhang Dawei, an analyst at Beijing-based Zhongyuan Real Estate, was quoted as saying by the state news agency Xinhua.
BBC: China home price rise indicates small rebound in demand
But no matter where you live, whether an all-property or marital only state, all sources of income , whether from separate or marital trust funds, will be included when support obligations are set.
应用推荐