Blackstone allocates most real estate investment to Europe: report

BLACKSTONE allocated more than half of its 2023 investment in real estate to European assets, including the UK, according to a report by the Financial Times (FT).

The world’s biggest alternative asset manager placed 55 per cent of its global property investments in Europe after rising interest rates led to bargain prices, the FT said. Blackstone typically invests most in the US, with an allocation of between 20 and 30 per cent to Europe. The asset manager also reduced its total spend on new property from about US$47 billion in 2022 to about US$9 billion in the first three quarters of 2023, the FT reported.

The investment firm has US$40 billion of “dry powder” and is targeting parts of the real estate market with “the strongest cash flow growth and favourable supply-demand fundamentals”, Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head of real estate at Blackstone, is cited by the FT as saying.

This includes logistics warehouses and data centres as well as apartments and student accommodation, she said. BLOOMBERG