Dutch pension funds expanded their real estate portfolios in 2010 to EUR 61 bn from EUR 53 bn in 2009 thanks to new allocations and upward revaluations. That is one of the key conclusions of research by PropertyEU's sister publication PropertyNL on the top 101 investors in the Netherlands.
The country's largest pension fund - ABP which is administered by APG - saw its real estate portfolio increase by no less than 25% over the period to EUR 25 bn from EUR 20 bn in 2009. Zorg en Welzijn - administered by PGGM - booked an 11% increase.
Meanwhile Dutch insurers are reducing their real estate allocations as they come under further pressure from Solvency II, the new European legislation to be introduced for the insurance sector on 1 January 2013.
The new regulations introduce significantly higher capital requirements for investments, which will force many insurers to shift to less risky investments. Overall, the Dutch insurers and bancassurance companies included in the survey saw their real estate investments decline 7% from EUR 28 bn in 2009 to EUR 26 bn in 2010.
The full article appears in the September edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe | 
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