Re: Does anyone hold international real estate in their AA?
Hi Olav,
I have not been willing to pay the high expense ratios. I researched this back in the early 2000's when there were fewer options.
Also, there is the tax problem. Most REIT-type dividends are not qualified and the dividends are high, also -- so you pay a lot of taxes in a taxable account. But if you put it into a tax deferred account you lose the foreign tax credit, which is probably another 0.2% drag.
This is actually an important asset class. Real estate is underrepresented in the public markets, and probably more so in foreign and developing markets, respectively.
I have read experts who say about 40% of all real estate price changes are global in nature (as we are seeing now). The rest is more country and region specific.
Kramer
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