The Importance of Expertise in Capital Market Investment

Many investors who are seeking to construct a well diversified portfolio often focus almost exclusively on publicly traded equities and fixed income securities. They fail to consider the role that well chosen real estate investments can play in addressing the challenges presented by a world of low to negative real interest rates, broadly eroded credit quality and near record stock prices.

While the proliferation of ETF’s and industry specific index funds has made it easier for investors to target the exposure they need to various invest-able sectors of the economy, the perceived obstacles to investing in non-securitized real estate persist.  Given the increasing uncertainty related to the continuation of quantitative easing, the potential headwinds from the sequester and increasing volatility in public markets, it is now a good time to review those perceived obstacles and reassert the rationale for making an allocation to the asset class when it is time to re-balance one’s portfolio.