Hi Sam! What is your personal view of real estate (RE) as an asset class? And its expected returns moving forward? How much does physical RE make up of your own portfolio?

If you are looking at it purely as a financial investment, then I am not a big fan of real estate as an asset class especially post-COVID and here in Singapore. There is a case to be made for industrial/datacentre assets, but most commercial and some residential looks to have limited upside unless the government restrictions are lifted. There are good investment opportunities in global real estate markets. However, compared to other asset classes such as equities, I do not see a significantly better outlook. I do not see my home as a financial investment if I am living in it. It is not part of my liquidi financial assets and it is not huge in my total assets. I have to add a caveat here, I am not the typical Asian property-crazed investor. And it is related to my belief that we should not own too many homes as one of the biggest sources of income inequality in the world is the gap in home ownership and it breaks down the fabric of society. Look at HK and US for example. Singapore is much better because of the level of high home ownership.