Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund is putting $1B into real estate funds managed by Brookfield and Blackstone, the first time it has invested in real estate funds.

GPIF has $1.4T (£1.1T) of assets under management and is the world’s largest pension fund, investing on behalf of Japanese employee pension schemes.

Earlier this month, it announced it was putting $500M into Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners V, the latest opportunity fund being raised by Brookfield Asset Management. It revealed this summer that it had put the same amount into Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, Blackstone’s latest global opportunity fund.

GPIF gave out its first real estate investment mandate in 2022, picking LaSalle Investment Management to invest an unspecified amount in co-investments, joint ventures and club deals. The investments with Brookfield and Blackstone are its first foray into real estate funds.

Japanese institutions have been small investors in global real estate relative to their large size. In 2017, GPIF said it planned to allocate 5% of its assets to alternative sectors, including real estate. That would mean it invested around $60B in alternatives, which also includes infrastructure and private equity.

Brookfield has an equity target of $15B for its fifth opportunity fund, while Blackstone completed a $30B fund-raise for its 10th fund in April, the largest-ever closed-ended real estate fund.