Instead, it pledged money to the likes of a fund run by Tishman Speyer, gaining it exposure to the New York Times building, and a German residential investment partnership.
The €15.3 billion NPRF fund, which was established in 2001 with an allocation of 80% in equities and 20% in bonds, committed itself almost two years ago to allocating 8% of its assets each to property and private equity by 2009.
The property portfolio had swollen to €402.2m in commitments at the end of last year from €12m a year earlier, as Ian Gleeson settled into his role as head of property investments.
It is understood that Gleeson, who was poached from F&C in late 2004, plans to invest a further €400m in real estate this year. However, Irish property is likely to remain off the cards.
Marie Hunt, an economist at CBRE, said commercial yields in Ireland are likely to continue to move lower over the course of the year.
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Meanwhile, interest rates are expected to move in the opposite direction.