Australia's largest real estate fundie pulls ahead of the pack

Australia's largest real estate fund manager has widened its lead over competitors in the past year, according to a new industry survey.

Charter Hall cemented its spot at the summit, continuing its reign as the nation's largest real estate manager with $83 billion in global assets under management (AUM), according to a Fund Manager Survey by industry associations ANREV, INREV, and NCREIF.

Among the next biggest players, the pecking order wobbled as $50 billion Lendlease knocked off $42 billion Dexus to nab second place.

The GPT Group ranked fourth with $34 billion in AUM, while Mirvac entered the top five with its $25 billion.

There was only one change in the ranking when focused solely on AUM in the Asia Pacific, with Dexus slightly ahead of Lendlease at $42 billion.

ANREV said this continues to reflect Lendlease's higher degree of diversification outside of the region among the top three managers by AUM.

In a broader global context, the survey also highlighted the positioning of local managers in the Asia Pacific real estate market.

Charter Hall ranked fourth among global fund managers by Asia Pacific real estate AUM, while Dexus secured 10^th place.

The top spot was claimed by ESR with $176 billion allocated to Asia Pacific real estate, followed by GLP Capital Partners with $112 billion, and CapitaLand with $96 billion.

The survey, which covered over 100 managers with a total AUM of US$3.8 trillion, also found that Australian asset managers' real estate holdings stood at $330 billion in 2024.

This was an 18.1% increase from the $279 billion recorded in 2023.

"It is encouraging to see such strong growth in Australian managers' AUM in 2024, reflecting renewed investor confidence," ANREV chief executive Charles Haase said.

"With asset performance in the Australian market showing signs of recovery, and given Australia's reputation as a mature, transparent, and well-regulated institutional real estate market, we expect continued interest from both domestic and international investors."