The
fund, which is targeting its first close in March, seeks hospitality,
residential and logistics assets as well as data centers.
INTERNATIONAL REPORT — Goldman Sachs is launching a $500
million fund targeting Japanese real estate, including hospitality assets.
According to Bloomberg, the fund, which is targeting its
first close by the end of March, will deploy a value-add investment strategy,
focusing on hospitality, logistics and residential assets and data centers.
Goldman was pitching investors in recent months for the
fund, capitalizing on a resurgence in the local property market fueled by low
borrowing costs and a weak yen in Japan.
According to Private Equity Insights, “Japan has drawn
sustained interest from global real estate investors due to comparatively low
borrowing costs and a weak yen, which has boosted returns for dollar-based
funds. Investment activity in Japan rose sharply in 2025, outpacing other
markets.”
Goldman has invested in Japanese real estate deals in the
past, according to the Bloomberg story, but mostly on its own balance sheet.
The fund comes amid increased competition in Japan
from Goldman's peers such as Morgan Stanley, KKR and Blackstone. Last September, Morgan
Stanley said it raised ¥131 billion for a Japanese real estate fund. KKR &
Co. and Blackstone also announced sizeable real estate deals in the country in
December.
Japanese real estate is attractive to foreign investors
because borrowing costs remain low relative to other developed nations.
According to Bloomberg, even after the Bank of Japan raised rates to
the highest level in 30 years, dollar-based investors can still get greater
value from assets due to the yen’s depreciation.
Japan’s real estate market saw investment volume
grow 22% year-over-year in the first three quarters of 2025 to ¥4.71 trillion
($30 billion), according to a report from JLL.
Earlier this year in August, Goldman Sachs priced a $1.4 billion leveraged loan to support Hyatt’s sale of the 15 all-inclusive resorts it originally acquired from Playa Hotels & Resorts.
In November, Goldman Sachs was among a cadre of lenders who gave Blackstone $970 million in CMBS refinancing for the 938-key Hotel del Coronado hotel in Coronado, California. The hotel has recently undergone $569 million in renovations and was recently appraised at $1.7 billion. The loan allowed Blackstone to refinance its existing $950 million at a lower spread.
In June, Goldman Sachs abandoned its plans to develop a hotel brand in Greece, according to The Wall Street Journal. Goldman bought three seaside resorts in northern Greece in 2022, but this spring, Goldman sold the three hotels, and barely broke even on the roughly €100 million (about $117 million) it had invested in the project, according to the Journal story, and pulled the plug on plans for a hotel brand in the region.