Polish Pension Funds Investment - is There A Place For Real Property in A Portfolio?

The pension fund investments should be characterised by a long term, low risk and profitability, which implicates the necessity of portfolio diversification. In general, pension funds having regular long-term contributions should develop the long-term policy and its effects would be responsible for the economic position of their future beneficiaries. The ways of capital allocation are also critical in terms of the entire economy, as a constant flow of financial resources provided by pension funds stimulates the activity of its recipients. The typical assets in a pension fund's portfolio in the developed economy are stocks, bonds and real property owing to low (negative) correlation between these assets and their diversified potential. The legal investment limits imposed on the Polish pension funds exclude direct investment in real property, which is responsible - in the authors' opinion - for the lower level of diversification and hinders the risk reduction. The authors analyze the Polish pension fund portfolios focusing on risk and return levels. The aim of the study is to find the answer to the important question about the results of hypothetically added real property to the portfolios of pension funds.