Last year, open-ended real estate funds did better on average than most ETFs on stocks or bonds.
In view of the extremely weak development on the stock exchanges, that wasn't difficult either.
The reflex of security-conscious investors to invest in real assets in times of global risks and high inflation was apparently not entirely wrong.
Even if most real estate funds have of course not managed to compensate for inflation given annual inflation averaging 7.9 percent.
The new year will be more challenging.
The turnaround in interest rates has caused the year-long rise in real estate prices to falter.
Compared to real estate stocks, which have already suffered severely, real estate funds are less sensitive to interest rates due to their structure.
At the same time, the turnaround in interest rates and its consequences for the real estate market should not leave open-ended funds indifferent.
The transaction volume on the market for commercial real estate has almost come to a standstill and a trend towards falling prices can already be seen on the residential real estate markets.
The various capital management companies are now trying to get through this phase and seize opportunities with different strategies.
However, it is to be expected that falling valuations will tend to weigh on the returns of many funds.