BREIT fund limits withdrawls?

what do you guys think of Blackstone news on limiting Investor withdrawal from its BREIT? 

is there any oversight on their fund performance and their Valuations? I always wondered if they really produced alpha for Investors or made money for themselves on fund flows and AUM

24 Comments
 
Most Helpful

The main thing it shows is that investors are nervous. They want to go to cash or buy 2 year Treasuries since they're yielding 4.25%.  Real estate funds are illiquid by design, so it makes sense there is a gate to avoid forced liquidations. Normal thing, no big deal. Whether or not the NAV is way off is open to debate, but reports are that Jon Gray and Steve Schwarzman have each invested $100mm of their own money into BREIT since July...

 
VolatilitySmile

The main thing it shows is that investors are nervous. They want to go to cash or buy 2 year Treasuries since they're yielding 4.25%.  Real estate funds are illiquid by design, so it makes sense there is a gate to avoid forced liquidations.

It doesn't show this at all - it depends on where those redemptions are coming from, and why.  If it's a lot of American funds pulling out to reallocate risk, then yes, that isn't the greatest sign.  If, as it seems it is in this case, it's a bunch of Chinese institutions pulling money out because they're getting hammered in their domestic market, that isn't nearly as meaningful.

Normal thing, no big deal. Whether or not the NAV is way off is open to debate, but reports are that Jon Gray and Steve Schwarzman have each invested $100mm of their own money into BREIT since July...

Probably because they think it's undervalued against the assets it contains.  Again, if every underlying asset (or effectively all) is performing, then the "valuation" of those assets is fairly meaningless.  I suppose you could argue that exuberant valuations by BREIT investors prior to 2022 drove the share value too high on a wave of cheap credit, but that is a separate issue from the actual value of the assets in the fund.  Which, as I said, are tied to cash flow.

 

If I’m understanding your comment correctly, you are suggesting NAVs in BREIT are overstated (ie they haven’t written positions down to keep up with the rapid cap rate expansion in the market)? I would not disagree w that.

on the second piece, sounds like terrible timing for them to buy $100mm chunks especially in light if they haven’t even fully marked NAV to market. Am I missing something?

 

There's a lot of hyperbole surrounding the topic but overall agree they'll be fine. The investment market in Asia has shifted, and a bunch of investors want to pull back for stability, but with this type of investment vehicle, it's obviously not aligned.

Blackstone already has it outlined that they can close the fund and lock redemption periods, but of course, news sites are going to jump on it because to someone not familiar with the topic (and how private REITs work), the wording sounds similar to the SBF situation (and the other companies that went under due to the FTX collapse).

You're not really a born and bred, traditional aristocrat if you work hard enough to get into Harvard.- Prospie
 

Is the news meaningful? Yes

Are some people in the media bringing about a touch too much hyperbole to spook people? In my view, also yes. My comment about a lack of knowledge was more of the public response independent of the market.

It definitely isn't great news to hear, but also isn't the great undoing and financial turmoil that I've seen outlined by some commentators. I think a lot of investors relating to BX have been weary following their past earnings drop, with the news coming out now only furthering the selloff. 

You're not really a born and bred, traditional aristocrat if you work hard enough to get into Harvard.- Prospie
 
asmith_1

Respectfully, BX was down 7% on the news.  Either the entire market and equity analysts are 'not familiar with how private REITs work' or perhaps the news is actually meaningful.  

It also dropped about that much when COVID hit, and then went on to gain 44% in value over the ensuing 30 months.  So obviously, despite the immediate reaction, that news wasn't particularly important to the underlying outlook, either.

Quoting the market price of a security as evidence for anything is tricky.  Investors, especially retail investors, are notorious for jumping ship at the bottom and buying back in at the top.  Does the collapse of China's housing market really have anything to do with the quality of the assets in BREIT?  Because that is what was driving redemptions.  The fact that enough people get spooked at the news of BREIT limiting redemptions doesn't actually mean anything about the underlying real estate.  If it turns out that they've been cooking the books, or are looking at a wave of defaults, then you have a different story of course... but the market reacting to a piece of news doesn't always correlate to "this news is meaningful".  People make stupid, irrational decisions all the time.  It's why anyone gets rich in the first place.

 
asmith_1

Respectfully, BX was down 7% on the news.  Either the entire market and equity analysts are 'not familiar with how private REITs work' or perhaps the news is actually meaningful.  

Honestly, the industry is very opaque, so maybe the analysts do not quite understand. All of ODCE has been dealing with this redemption problem all year, but no real retail investor exposure there, and no news. The fund has a fiduciary duty to the investors that want to stay in, so no asset firesales, and redemptions get limited. It is a bad sign for private RE, everyone’s expecting value declines of 20% average next year, like all other assets have been revalued on higher risk free rate.

 

I think most of this is due to re-allocation. Their equities positions have gone down, many of which quite substantially. Therefore, due to the denominator effect, they’re over allocated to real estate.

This isn’t something that’s just started happening within the past couple of weeks. We’ve seen this happening for a couple of months now, across all private reits. Starwood and blackstone are just the biggest household names.

I don’t think it’s that these investors don’t want to be allocated to real estate as it’s coming off a super hot run. And the alts industry in general is gaining more investor attention than it’s historically had relative to your traditional asset classes.

Still not good news, but not real estate Armageddon.

 

I think it's pretty obvious that BREIT is bullshitting on their marks. NAV is up what 9% YTD? I suspect their actual marks should probably be somewhere near -15%. Just look at Camden, MAA, Prologis, etc. How have they done YTD? 

Some of the withdrawals can be explained by Asian investors getting hammered in their markets, but I'm sure some people are clearly selling at the overinflated BREIT NAV and reallocating elsewhere. Or at least they should be!

 

Voluptatibus repudiandae ut vero autem. Nostrum est vel expedita eum veritatis corporis omnis. Laudantium quaerat in dicta inventore expedita molestiae. Nostrum vitae sit ullam. Iure magnam ut voluptas saepe facilis. Et quas nesciunt unde similique ipsum.

Repellendus qui inventore cum voluptate nobis tempora perspiciatis rerum. Facilis et est excepturi harum omnis sit sed. Repudiandae cum et placeat commodi fugit expedita enim. Facere veritatis vel voluptate distinctio ex. Aliquid atque non dolore ex tenetur velit maiores.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (72) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”