Abstract

German Open Ended Real Estate Fund Performance – The Impact of Liquidity

The liquidity crisis in the German Open-Ended Real Estate Funds (GOEREFs) industry was characterized by large outflows of money in several funds. Large and ongoing redemptions of fund shares held by both institutional and private / retail investors led to suspensions of redemptions, termination of funds and, ultimately, a new law. This study provides the most comprehensive overview of how the funds performed and how pronounced the differences between classes of funds in the €80bn+ industry are. Using not only the net asset values of the funds as reported by the fund management companies, but the prices obtained at the secondary market when redemptions are suspended, indexes are constructed in order to provide a clear view of the performance of GOEREFs when the most relevant prices are used – those that may be achieved directly, rather than using book values. In this sense, the indexes provide a liquidity-corrected picture of fund returns. (G01, G10, G12)