The Wall Street Journal
By Peter Grant and Kosaku Narioka
Oct. 30, 2018

Japanese investors, who helped fuel strong performance by U.S. real-estate investment trusts during the early years of the economic recovery, are now compounding the sector's recent problems by dumping these shares.

Japan-based REIT funds, mostly focused on the U.S., had amassed $68 billion of assets under management two years ago and controlled a 7% share of the entire U.S. REIT market, according to Green Street Advisors.

But since 2016, the Japanese funds have sold off more than half of their holdings as their yields fell sharply, investors cashed out and fundraising became tougher. These investors had $31 billion of assets under management in September, down to 4% of the U.S. market, Green Street said. Read more.