Spotlight on Alicia Li, Product Strategist, Real Estate, PIMCO
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Alicia Li, Product Strategist, Real Estate, PIMCO
In my role as product strategist at PIMCO, I am primarily responsible for client coverage of real estate strategies across Asia Pacific.
I work closely with our sales teams to raise, market, and structure real estate investment solutions tailored to client needs. This involves aligning insights from our portfolio managers on investment opportunities with client demand and risk appetite.
Real estate lending market dynamics
Since the global financial crisis, a sustained pullback in lending from traditional sources, such as banks, has expanded opportunities for private capital across corporate direct lending, asset-based lending, and real estate lending.
Historically, most investors have anchored their private credit portfolios with corporate direct lending. As these portfolios evolve, the current market environment presents a compelling entry point into more diversified segments of private credit, including real estate credit.
With valuations having reset by 10% to 50%, lending basis have reached lows not seen since the global financial crisis. This has created favourable starting conditions and strong fundamentals for real estate credit. Amid high demand for credit - over US$2 trillion of loans maturing in the US and US$280 billion maturing in Europe respectively over the next few years against recovering transaction volumes - and constrained supply due to continued bank retrenchment, investors can benefit from attractive all-in yields today.
Implications for institutional investors
Despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties, ranging from policy shifts and inflationary pressures to geopolitical tensions, commercial real estate markets offer more favourable entry points than many other private market sectors. Valuations have reset and market fundamentals are normalising.
Furthermore, high conviction sections within commercial real estate, such as residential, logistics and data centres, benefit from secular trends including e-commerce, nearshoring, digitalisation and housing supply shortages, which support their structural resilience.
In this uncertain environment, investors are increasingly focused on resilient returns, portfolio defensiveness and diversification. Real estate credit, with its asset-backed nature, lower volatility and reduced correlation to public markets, offers a compelling complement to public and private market portfolios.
Additionally, heightened regulatory scrutiny has led to stronger underwriting standards and improved structural protections in real estate credit, with leverage levels declining and covenant protections improving.
These improved structural features further reinforce the resilience of real estate credit and its valuable role in portfolio construction.
Alicia will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Fixed Income & Alternative Credit Investment Forum, taking place on Thursday, 11 September 2025 at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Victoria. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
Alicia Li, Product Strategist, Real Estate, PIMCO
Alicia is a senior vice president and product strategist in the Singapore office, covering real estate strategies.
Prior to joining PIMCO in 2023, Alicia was a director of business development at PIMCO Prime Real Estate, where she oversaw strategy and product development of real estate products in Asia-Pacific. Previously, Alicia was a senior vice president at Keppel Capital, where she was responsible for real estate investments in Asia-Pacific across core and value-add real estate strategies.
Alicia has 15 years of investment and financial services experience. She holds an undergraduate degree from the National University of Singapore and is a CFA charterholder.
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