HK's property investment portfolio will double with the establishment of Future Fund
Hong Kong is on track to raise its profile as a buyer of global property when the city's Future Fund is launched this year, with government investments tipped to almost double to HK$68 billion under an expected tilt towards real estate.
Hong Kong is on track to raise its profile as a buyer of global property when the city's Future Fund is launched this year, with government investments tipped to almost double to HK$68 billion under an expected tilt towards real estate.
"There is considerable room for the Future Fund to assemble a sizeable real estate portfolio," said Ada Choi, senior director for CBRE Research Asia, before the release of a report today by the property consultancy that suggests the Future Fund can learn from the established Asian sovereign wealth funds.
Their strategies favour investment in a broad selection of cities and countries with mature markets and sound legal systems, CBRE said.
"The Hong Kong Future Fund is relatively small compared to other Asian [wealth funds], such as the China Investment Corporation (US$650 billion under management) and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (US$320 billion)," Choi said.
The Future Fund will be tasked with making investments that build up savings for future generations and help head off the pressures from an ageing population. In his budget speech in March, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah gave approval for the fund to be set up by the end of this year.
Formed in 2008, the portfolio is run by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority as the city's only government-run investment portfolio of global real estate. Property accounted for about 30 per cent of its holdings, at HK$34.7 billion, by the end of last year.