2017 Real Confidence University Challenge Reveals Top Real Estate Picks of Future Leaders

NEW YORK, NEW YORK--(Marketwired - Jan. 23, 2017) - More than 195 students from 38 universities across North America and Europe are competing in the 2017 Real Confidence University Challenge, a year-long competition for university students to gain hands-on learning experience in public and private commercial real estate investing.

The 2017 Real Confidence University Challenge is made possible by Altus Group Limited ("Altus Group") (TSX:AIF), in collaboration with the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT®) and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF®).

Each university team was asked to allocate $1 billion in theoretical capital among a variety of commercial real estate investment opportunities found within the public and private equity and debt sectors that would yield the highest total investment return in 2017. 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^(SM).

The 2017 Real Confidence University Challenge Index is comprised of the total theoretical $38 billion made up of each university team's allocation and serves as the competition benchmark. This year's index allocation saw 59.2% of the total capital allocated to public equity, followed by 34.1% to private equity opportunities. The industrial sector took the top spot in both public and private equity selections, underpinning strong confidence in this sector. On the debt side; public debt received a 4.2% allocation, focused mainly on CMBS - AAA securities, while private debt received 2.5%, up over 13% from the 2016 Challenge.

"The teams' portfolio allocations are particularly fascinating as they reflect where our leaders of tomorrow see the strongest real estate investment returns," said Richard Kalvoda, Senior Executive Vice President at Altus Group. "Interestingly, the students' heavy weighting towards the industrial sector is also consistent with the findings from our Real Confidence Executive Index which surveyed industry leading executives."

The competition will conclude in January 2018 and includes $50,000 USD in total prize money. The team with the best-performing portfolio for the year will be awarded $30,000, with quarterly prizes of $2,500 awarded to the university with the top public and private section performance of their portfolio.

"We are pleased to be partners in this challenge that is designed to build interest and skill in real estate investment among students who may soon be investors and industry leaders," said Steven A. Wechsler, President and CEO of NAREIT®. "We believe the competition offers a great opportunity for students to learn important lessons about real estate and the essential role it plays in investment portfolios."

Students and industry professionals can follow the portfolio performance at www.realconfidence.com/university. The interactive website showcases a leaderboard, blog posts and industry expert commentary.

Student teams from the following universities are participating in the 2017 Real Confidence University Challenge:

"This competition provides a valuable experience for students to gain a broader perspective of real estate investment," said Peter Steil, CEO, NCREIF®. "It will be interesting to observe how the strategies and choices of our next generation of leaders and investors will perform against one another."

About Altus Group Limited

Altus Group Limited is a leading provider of independent advisory services, software and data solutions to the global commercial real estate industry. Our businesses, Altus Analytics and Altus Expert Services, reflect decades of experience, a range of expertise, and technology-enabled capabilities. Our solutions empower clients to analyze, gain market insight and recognize value on their real estate investments. Headquartered in Canada, we have approximately 2,300 employees around the world, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Our clients include some of the world's largest real estate industry participants across a variety of sectors. Altus Group pays a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share and our securities are traded on the TSX under the symbols AIF and AIF.DB.A.

For more information on Altus Group, please visit www.altusgroup.com.

About the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts® (NAREIT)

NAREIT®, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts®, is the worldwide representative voice for REITs, or Real Estate Investment Trusts, and publicly traded real estate companies with an interest in U.S. real estate and capital markets. NAREIT represents a large and diverse industry including Equity REITs, which own commercial properties, Mortgage REITs, which invest in mortgage securities, REITs traded on major stock exchanges, public non-listed REITs and private REITs. U.S. REITs collectively own nearly $2 trillion of real estate assets and, by making investment in commercial real estate available in the form of stock, NAREIT's more than 200 REIT members enable all investors - importantly, small investors - to achieve what, once, only large institutions and the wealthy could.

About the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries® (NCREIF)

The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) is a non-profit trade association that serves the direct commercial real estate investment community whose members come together to address vital industry issues and to promote research on the asset class. NCREIF is dedicated to providing the institutional real estate industry with the highest standards of reliable, unbiased data, used for performance measurement, research, risk-return evaluation, and underwriting analysis in setting the foundation for sound investment decision making. In addition to producing performance indices for direct commercial real estate, NCREIF serves its membership - institutional investors, academics, appraisers, accountants and other real estate practitioners - through conferences, peer-group forums and education programs to establish best industry practices and encourage professional development.