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By Martin Halblaub, Founder and Executive Chairman of Estating, the fintech for real estate wealth management
Real estate is not an alternative asset. It is, in fact, the most natural, enduring, and productive form of wealth creation in human history. Long before stocks and bonds, land and buildings defined prosperity. In today’s investment landscape, it should command a central role in asset allocation strategies — significantly above 30% for any serious portfolio builder.
According to UBS (formerly Credit Suisse)1, real assets—primarily housing—constitute approximately 46% of global household assets, yet remain underrepresented in professionally managed portfolios, especially those held via regulated wealth platforms.
It offers more than yield. It offers utility, durability, and long-term capital appreciation. In a world of inflationary pressure, geopolitical fragmentation, and monetary experimentation, real estate provides tangibility and resilience.
The irony is this: nearly every investor already holds real estate. But they hold it outside their portfolio. Their homes, holiday properties, even inherited land — all real, all valuable, yet invisible to their financial advisor, uncaptured by their wealth platform, and unleveraged in any formal strategy.
Following Knight Frank’s 2023 Wealth Report2, HNWIs hold on average 32% of their wealth in real estate, with only a fraction reflected in structured investment accounts.
Traditional routes into real estate — direct ownership, funds, REITs — are either operationally intense, illiquid, or overly public and volatile. Crowdfunding and tokenization platforms opened the door to fractional investing, but most remain retail-focused and regulatory-light.
The B2B wealth world still lacks seamless real estate access. Most assets don’t integrate with brokerage systems, aren’t held in securities accounts, and bypass the financial industry altogether. That’s not innovation — that’s exclusion.
Our vision isn't about incremental change. We need real estate transformed into a fully integrated financial asset—one that's as bankable as bonds, structured like securities, professionally custodied, and expertly advised upon. This evolution will unlock property's true potential in our modern financial ecosystem, creating accessible pathways to the spaces where life and value intersect.
Real estate performs best not as a one-off investment, but as a structured part of a broader portfolio. Like bonds, it benefits from diversification by geography, duration, and use case. At the same time, alpha is important. The ability to choose and build is essential.
McKinsey's projection of private market AUM doubling by 2030 validates what our highest-performing clients already understand: strategic real estate allocations provide the stability and outperformance essential in today's fragmented financial landscape.
This is where real estate flips the narrative. This framework transforms the traditional liquidity narrative. By accepting measured illiquidity, we access the premium returns that define private markets while maintaining tactical exit flexibility. This isn't merely portfolio theory—it's how we're reshaping private wealth management for families who demand both preservation and growth. But with rolling maturities, they retain exit optionality. Liquidity and real estate are not opposites — they’re architectural challenges.
Real estate provides essential gravitational stability to sophisticated portfolios. Beyond mere diversification, it delivers what are increasingly rare commodities in today's investment landscape: genuine low correlation from public market volatility and dependable income streams that persist through economic turbulence.
NCREIF data shows that U.S. private real estate returns outpaced inflation in over 80% of rolling five-year periods since 1978, with consistently low correlation to public equities.
But this performance profile can be compromised when asset partners are forced into public markets. Developers, sponsors, and operators often pursue listings not for strategic growth but for tactical liquidity needs. The consequences are predictable: increased volatility, burdensome disclosure requirements, and strategic distractions that undermine the very qualities that make real estate exceptional.
The solution: let asset partners remain private. Our approach charts a different course: empowering asset partners to remain private while providing investors with sophisticated access bridges—not through fragmented retail platforms or unregulated tokenization schemes, but through institutional-grade structures that preserve the integrity of the underlying assets.
In my three decades navigating market cycles, I've witnessed firsthand how thoughtful real asset integration delivers both resilience and alpha generation that traditional investments simply cannot match.
When done right, real estate becomes not a satellite allocation, but a core strategy inside wealth platforms. Held in brokerage accounts. Integrated with investment advice. Designed with clear exit thesis — and built for resilience.
The result? Portfolio resilience that transcends market cycles—the kind of structural advantage that sophisticated capital has always sought but rarely found in traditional allocation models.
This isn't simply another investment vertical—it's the architecture of enduring wealth preservation in an increasingly uncertain world.
Timing matters. Today’s dislocation is not dysfunction — it’s opportunity. Capital is paused, not gone. Demand is strong, but temporarily sidelined.
BlackRock’s 2025 Private Markets Outlook3 notes that infrastructure and residential real estate are among the most resilient real asset classes during economic rebalancing periods.
Multifamily housing in U.S. growth corridors, digital infrastructure hubs, and logistics nodes remain the clearest plays. Add rising construction costs, limited new permits, and the return of normalized interest rates — and the opportunity window becomes even clearer.
The non-U.S. dollar space will open strategic windows for those seeking yield, currency diversification, and early access to emerging hard-asset regions. As the world adjusts to the logic of Trumping the Americas, those positioned early will benefit most.
For investors, real estate delivers a compelling combination of income, resilience, and long-term appreciation. It provides:
Advisors who integrate real estate unlock a deeper share of wallet and build longer client relationships. The WIIFM is clear:
We're witnessing a historic economic realignment—America reasserting leadership, private markets reclaiming primacy, and hard assets outperforming paper securities. This shift isn't merely geopolitical; it's fundamental portfolio logic for years ahead.
In this new economic chapter, real estate functions as essential infrastructure rather than passive allocation. To realize its full potential, however, it requires its own financial architecture—transforming isolated holdings into integrated, portable wealth vehicles.
Estating exemplifies this strategic approach—bridging the divide between real estate's inherent value and modern wealth infrastructure. Unlike disruptive fintech that seeks to eliminate intermediaries, we've built a platform that enhances the financial ecosystem through regulated, securitized structures that seamlessly integrate with existing advisory relationships and brokerage infrastructure.
Our comprehensive solution addresses the entire value chain: from institutional-grade origination through sophisticated structuring, compliant issuance, and secure custody. This enables wealth platforms and trusted advisors to craft bespoke real asset portfolios calibrated to specific client objectives across our expanding network of premier development and operating partners.
The distinction is critical—we strengthen rather than displace the advisor's role, providing them with the tools and access once reserved for institutional investors. As we connect history's oldest asset class with modern wealth architecture, we're not merely adapting to the future—we're defining it.
Estating’s Proprietary Real Estate Portfolio Design
We’ve revolutionized portfolio construction through:
- Precision-calibrated core/value-add allocations
- Strategic income and appreciation pairings across geographies
- Liquidity ladder structures with intentional maturity staging
Estating demonstrates how real estate can be fully integrated into the regulated wealth ecosystem—without bypassing the advisor.
Since its inception, Estating has:
Results:
Estating isn't merely providing access—we're fundamentally transforming how real estate lives within wealth structures, creating lasting institutional architecture that serves both the families who invest and the advisors who guide them.
1- UBS. (2024). Global Wealth Report.
https://www.ubs.com/global/en/wealthmanagement/insights/global-wealth-report.html
2- Knight Frank. (2023). The wealth report 2023.
https://content.knightfrank.com/resources/knightfrank.com/wealthreport/2023/the-wealth-report-2023.pdf
3- BlackRock. (2025). Private markets outlook.
https://www.blackrock.com/ca/institutional/en/insights/private-markets-outlook
The views, analyses, and perspectives presented in this Letter are offered for informational and educational purposes only. While reflecting Martin Halblaub’s vision and insights, this communication should not be construed as investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell securities, or a solicitation of any investment product or service.
Financial markets involve inherent risks, and past performance discussed herein is not indicative of future results. The strategies, opportunities, and observations outlined are reflective of current conditions and subject to change as market dynamics evolve.
Each investor's circumstances, objectives, and risk tolerance are unique. We strongly encourage readers to consult with qualified financial, legal, and tax professionals before making any investment decisions based on information contained in this document.
Our commitment to transparency and shareholder value drives us to share these insights, but prudent investment decisions ultimately rest with you and your trusted advisors.
