Seeking value creation in real estate equity through active management
We bring together our research-led view on key thematic trends and a deep understanding of local market dynamics across the UK and Europe. Investing with conviction and discipline, we aim to find value in the places where people want to live, work, play and learn, and we focus on long-term demand drivers and structural changes. We aim to create value for investors through active management throughout each asset’s lifecycle.
Our product suite aims to meet client needs across the risk spectrum. We can tailor our real estate equity solutions as part of broader multi-asset or multi-sector offerings, or focus them on specific thematic opportunities by sector or geography. We seek to deliver alpha by leveraging our collective market insight into the inherently inefficient and cyclical nature of real estate.
Why invest?
Real estate equity is an established asset class that can create value to meet a variety of investment goals and provides diversification benefits.
Value creation
We aim to enhance returns through asset repositioning, development and rigorous active management.
Illiquidity premium
The private nature and high barriers to entry of the asset class typically command an illiquidity premium.
Full risk spectrum
A wide array of solutions to meet a diverse set of investment objectives.
*ESG integration means the integration of ESG factors and consideration of sustainability risk as part of the investment decision making process. This process is applied beyond any specific binding constraints (in the objective or strategy of the fund as detailed in the prospectus or investment management agreement and in accordance with our Baseline Exclusions Policy). The investment manager retains discretion on decision making taking all risks into account, beyond any binding criteria.
Real estate equity strategies
Aviva Investors Real Estate Active LTAF (REALTAF)
REALTAF, the largest long-term asset fund (LTAF) at inception, is a £1.8 billion portfolio of high-quality UK real estate assets (as at September 30, 2025). Building on Aviva Investors' long-term track record, the fund’s strategy combines a structural thematic approach with a demand-driven outlook, ensuring resilience and relevance over time. Actively managed and benchmark agnostic, REALTAF focuses on the assets’ development potential aligned with net zero and social value frameworks, delivering sustainable growth while maintaining liquidity alignment under the LTAF regime for institutional and professional investors.
Key risks of real estate equity strategies
Investment risk
The value of an investment and any income from it can go down as well as up and can fluctuate in response to changes in currency and exchange rates. Investors may not get back the original amount invested.
Real estate risk
Where strategies are invested in real estate, investors may not be able to redeem any units in the fund when they want because real estate assets may not always be readily saleable. If this is the case, we may defer a request to switch or cash in shares or units.
Valuation risk
Certain assets held in the strategy could, by nature, be hard to value or to sell at a desired time or at a price considered to be fair (especially in large quantities), and as a result their prices could be very volatile.
Investment insights
Investment thinking that brings together the collective insight of Aviva Investors’ teams from across the globe on the key themes influencing markets.
Views
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Continued momentum: The outlook for European Infrastructure debt
14 Jan 2026
European infrastructure debt enters 2026 in a healthy position, with no shortage of demand for its diverse range of opportunities. Nonetheless, investors need to be alert to various risks and conduct thorough due diligence, argues Darryl Murphy.
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Cities of the future: What will cities look like in 2050?
8 Jan 2026
Today’s private market investments will shape 2050 cities. We explore what this could look like, and the related challenges and opportunities.
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Boosting low-carbon investment in the UK: 2025 Roadmap Update
11 Dec 2025
In 2024, we outlined our view on the most important public-policy interventions to unlock private investment in the low-carbon economy. In this update, we take stock of policy developments since, and look ahead to 2026 and beyond.
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Navigating nature: Opportunities for the investor of tomorrow
10 Dec 2025
Our society, economies and financial systems are embedded in nature, not external to it. This paper sets out the actions we are taking to understand nature-related risks and opportunities to deliver outcomes that meet our clients’ needs, and to support nature-related global goals.
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Purposeful run-on: A credible alternative to buyout
5 Dec 2025
Discover why purposeful run-on is emerging as a credible alternative to buyout for well-funded defined benefit (DB) pension schemes – and how it can unlock long-term value while keeping clients' needs at the centre.
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Beyond buyout: Why DB schemes are reconsidering their endgame
4 Dec 2025
Significant shifts in the defined benefit (DB) pension schemes landscape mean that as schemes mature, trustees and sponsors now face a broader spectrum of strategic choices. We explain why the choice between buyout and run-on is no longer binary.
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Illiquidity premia in private debt: Q3 2025
12 Nov 2025
Having crunched the data, our private markets research team looks at how evolving macro conditions are impacting private debt returns.
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Aviva Investors’ Social Value Label: Recognising achievements during construction
11 Nov 2025
The newly launched Aviva Investors’ Social Value Label recognises quality practice in the construction supply chain. It will be awarded to contractors who deliver social value when building commercial real estate.
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From niche to core: Asset-based finance emerges as a driving force as private debt markets continue to evolve
7 Oct 2025
Asset-based finance is capturing the attention of institutional investors – from pension schemes to insurers – thanks to its diverse risk-return drivers and its growing role as a strategic building block in investors’ portfolios.
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Solid foundations: The case is building for infrastructure equity
3 Oct 2025
In this article Viktor Dietrich, Research Director for infrastructure, venture capital and natural capital, revisits the case for investing in European infrastructure equity. He suggests reasons why small-to-mid-sized opportunities should feature prominently on investors’ radar.
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Energy-intensive industries: Unlocking low-carbon investment
16 Sep 2025
Vital industries for UK growth like steel or cement are also energy intensive, and their decarbonisation is essential. We convened a roundtable of experts to discuss barriers and solutions to unlocking low-carbon investment opportunities.
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RELI’s return: Why real estate long income (RELI) has a growing fanbase
11 Sep 2025
After falling out of favour following the 2022 UK mini-budget crisis, real estate long income is making something of a comeback. Fund managers Renos Booth and Kris McPhail explain why it is starting to attract interest from a variety of investors.
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Illiquidity premia in private debt: Q2 2025
14 Aug 2025
In our latest private markets deep dive, our research team crunches the data to see how evolving macro conditions are reflected in private debt returns.
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Building advantage: Finding a competitive edge in European high yield real estate debt
14 Jul 2025
While opportunities in European high yield real estate debt remain, growing competition underscores the need for deep market expertise, a robust underwriting framework, and disciplined deal selection to identify and capture resilient value.
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Show me the value: Investing in carbon removal, part three
11 Jul 2025
In this article, we explore the potential benefits of carbon removal strategies for institutional investors.
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MegaTRENDs: Why TRENDs matter for investing in private markets
27 Jun 2025
A set of megatrends is reshaping the world, creating new opportunities and risks for investments in private markets.
Private Markets Study
Private Markets Study 2025
In the seventh edition of the study, we collected the views of 500 institutional investors around the world. We delved into some of the key questions facing private market investors today: Why do they invest in private markets? How do they expect the asset classes to perform over the next few years? What are the biggest barriers to investing today? And how do they incorporate sustainability?
House View
House View
No one can predict the future. But our quarterly House View sets out the collective wisdom of our investment teams on the current state of global markets – and where they might be heading.
Article in focus
Solid foundations: The case is building for infrastructure equity
In this article Viktor Dietrich, Research Director for infrastructure, venture capital and natural capital, revisits the case for investing in European infrastructure equity. He suggests reasons why small-to-mid-sized opportunities should feature prominently on investors’ radar.
Real estate equity team
Meet our real estate equity investment team.
Imogen Ebbs
Head of Strategic Investment & Growth, Active Equity
James Stevens
Head of Investment – Global Real Estate
George Fraser-Harding
Head of Pan-European Funds, Real Estate
Explore
Private markets
As one of Europe’s largest private markets investment managers, we have the scale to access the full depth and breadth of private markets.
Real estate
Outcome-oriented solutions in real estate, across equity debt and long income, through strategies that span the risk spectrum, from lower-risk options generating long-term income to more opportunistic investments.