MSCI Launches Global Real Estate Asset Index

MSCI Inc. has launched the MSCI Global Quarterly Property Index, which tracks the property-level performance of quarterly valued assets in major real estate markets worldwide.

The index tracks the performance of more than 20,000 real estate investments in 26 countries dating back to December 2007, and includes 17 countries that have quarterly valued property asset data available. The index is intended to help investors monitor and manage international portfolios amid geopolitical tensions, as well as rising inflation and interest rates, a company press release says.

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“The ongoing economic environment and market conditions as we come out of the pandemic have made clear the importance of timely property-level indicators to understand how real estate markets are responding,” Rene Veerman, MSCI’s global head of real assets, said in statement.

According to the performance of the assets that make up the GQPI, worldwide real estate returns increased to 17.8% on a 12-month rolling basis during the first quarter of the year. And, the release notes, the three-month rate of return decelerated to 4.4% from a record high of 5% during the fourth quarter of 2021, when the market rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The only regions that saw returns rise during the first quarter, according to the index, were Central and Eastern Europe, the Nordic region, Ireland and Germany. All other countries in the index saw their three-month rate of return decelerate, and some of the countries that had closed out 2021 particularly strong were the ones with the sharpest slowdowns, says the release.

MSCI also launched the Europe Quarterly Property Index, which aims to provide quarterly indicators for investors in European real estate. The index tracks the performance of more than 12,000 real estate investments in 20 countries.

“These new quarterly indexes provide more comprehensive and regular performance data for a more precise reflection of risk in global and European markets, which often have lower frequency valuation practices across market participants,” said Veerman.