Core Plus Real Estate Primer

June 2026

Real estate investment strategies exist on a spectrum, with core plus falling between core and non-core strategies.

At one end, core real estate emphasizes income return and predictability, with minimal capital investment. At the other end, non-core strategies typically rely on heavier repositioning, development, or lease-up risk to generate a larger share of returns from appreciation rather than current income. For this reason, core investments typically exhibit lower return volatility than non-core (value-add and opportunistic) strategies, which are geared toward driving appreciation returns through capital improvements and leasing. Core plus real estate strategies often consist of some combination of modest capital improvement and targeted leasing, as well as moderate use of leverage. Importantly, funds classified as core plus can often invest across a range of risk profiles for individual properties, as long as the overall fund risk profile sits between core and value-add.