Altus : NAREIT and NCREIF Announce University of Chicago as Winner of the Real Confidence University Challenge

32 Universities Competed for $50,000 in Total Prizes from Altus Group, NAREIT, NCREIF

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 31, 2017) - Three students from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business have been declared the winners of the 2016 Real Confidence™ University Challenge, ending the second annual competition in which over 200 students from 32 universities in North America gained hands-on learning experience in public and private commercial real estate investing. The University of Chicago student team managed the best portfolio with a return just short of 24 percent over four quarters and won the $30,000 grand prize.

Each university team allocated $1 billion in theoretical capital among a variety of commercial real estate investment opportunities found within the public and private equity and the public and private debt sectors. The performance of each sector's weighted investment selection was calculated with its respective benchmark return data provided by NAREIT®, NCREIF®, Markit® and Giliberto-Levy Commercial Mortgage Performance Index℠.

'We are proud to partner with NAREIT and NCREIF to host this Challenge as it provides students with the opportunity to gain a better understanding of real estate investing in a rewarding and competitive way,' said Richard Kalvoda, Senior Executive Vice President at Altus Group. 'Our goal with the Challenge is to help prepare the next generation of real estate professionals and we're encouraged to see the number of schools participating in the Challenge continues to increase each year.'

The University of Chicago's unique winning strategy focused on listed Mortgage REITs, splitting the allocation between commercial-financing and home-financing. With four larger REITs comprising the majority of the commercial index, the students anticipated this would present opportunities for additional debt deals and financing. For home-financing, they expected the mortgage-backed security market would benefit from the Fed as it continued its programmatic reinvestments. The University of Chicago's total return results were an impressive 23.64 percent, compared with the 2016 University Challenge index at only 5.20 percent, as nine schools posted negative portfolio returns for the competition.

'The Real Confidence University Challenge helps students understand the benefits that REITs and other real estate bring to investment portfolios, in terms of increasing returns and reducing risk,' said NAREIT President and CEO Steven A. Wechsler. 'The students who participate in this annual competition gain hands-on investment experience that provides a valuable supplement to their classroom knowledge.'

The University of Chicago is the overall winner, but the $2,500 quarterly winners for top public and private sector performance included: University of Connecticut (x2), Brigham Young University (x2), University of San Diego (x2), University of Miami and Utah State University. While the University of Chicago team never won an individual quarter, they maintained a consistent pace of returns landing a 4.8 percent gap over the University of San Diego who came in second.

'It has been great to see the participation grow from last year,' said Dan Dierking, President, NCREIF. 'The Real Confidence University Challenge provides a unique approach to educate future professionals and leaders of this industry. It gives students a platform to engage in investment decisions while learning the importance of data and research to support those decisions. We look forward to continued growth in the program, and our partnership with Altus Group and NAREIT.'

Below are the final portfolio returns of the top 10 student teams that participated in the 2016 Real Confidence University Challenge:

Additional final rankings and portfolio details can be found at http://www.realconfidence.com/challenge/2016/.