Investment manager Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance has again achieved a higher return on residential property than the MSCI benchmark in 2022. The average return on managed residential portfolios was 3.5%: 1.9 percentage points higher than MSCI Dutch Residential Index (1.6%). The residential portfolios managed by Syntrus Achmea had a combined size of €8.8 billion at the end of last year.
The housing portfolios also performed well on a long-term average. On a 3- and 5-year basis, they outperformed the benchmark.
With a return of 2.9%, the Achmea Dutch Residential Fund (size: €2.2 billion) outperformed the MSCI benchmark by 1.3 percentage points. The fund has acquired many new properties and made existing properties more sustainable in recent years, which now results in a green portfolio with 84% energy label A homes.
The Achmea Dutch Retail Property Fund (size: €0.9 billion) achieved a positive result of 1.4%. The return lagged behind the MSCI retail benchmark (4.3%) due to the transfer tax on the acquisition of two property portfolios in 2022 of over €390 million. Excluding these one-off costs, the total return was 4.8%.
Nearly €300 million in new mandates
The Achmea Dutch Healthcare Property Fund (size: €0.7 billion) - for which no specific MSCI benchmark has been developed - achieved a return of 1.3%. In the long term, the fund performed in line with target with an average performance of 7.3% over the past five years. In 2022, the Fund was very successful in raising new capital. Nearly €300 million worth of new mandates were committed by new and existing clients.
"Our property portfolios have undergone a major transformation in recent years, steering towards a successful portfolio structure and meaningful ESG targets. This has resulted in outperformance and portfolios that are in strong shape," says Casper Hesp, director of investment management at Syntrus Achmea. "The outlook is therefore positive."
"Right now, we do find ourselves in a turbulent market," says Hesp. "Interest rates are relatively high, resulting in rising yields and negative returns. However, the fundamentals for Dutch real estate are very strong. The population is growing rapidly and demand for housing is persistently high. As a result, real estate remains an interesting asset class with good return prospects and the opportunity to make a real impact as an investor."
