In the past 4 years, real estate funds have always been under pressure in the month of October – including in 2023. As a result of the listing of ZIF Immobilien Direkt Schweiz, investors close to the index had to adjust their positions, which put a strain on the market. The ongoing illiquidity further reinforces these tendencies. Panic sales with a 25% discount (negative premium between the exchange price and the redemption price) were even observed. Does anyone actually expect such high valuation losses? Especially since it should be noted at this point that the majority of the investment universe is invested in residential properties. However, prices have remained stable – reduced vacancies and increasing rental income can partially compensate for the higher costs. However, investors seem to be losing patience and are selling their positions at very low levels. Since, measured by the SREAL, no more money has been earned with real estate in the last 3 years (-0.64%), it seems time to once again show investors the characteristics of this asset class: Real estate investments should be considered as a medium to long-term investment achieving an annualized return of 3 to 4%. Historically, real estate indices have rarely shown a negative average annual return within a holding period of more than 5 years. Which doesn’t rule out the possibility of longer periods of weakness. In fact, after a period in which real estate was considered the “best choice”, it is difficult to find the optimal time to (re)enter. In the short term, the interest rate developments of the last 18 months are certainly still noticeable on the market. Despite everything, the long-term strength of Swiss real estate investments compared to other asset classes in terms of diversification and inflation protection has been confirmed.