Home Real estate and private markets investment strategies U.S. High Yield Real Estate Credit

Private debt

U.S. High Yield Real Estate Credit

Principal’s High Yield Real Estate Credit seeks to provide current income, while aiming to preserve capital and mitigate downside risk.

Strategy differentiators

Depth of experience

We have more than 60 years’ experience in private debt investing , through many market cycles, across Core, Core+, High-Yield, and Construction loans; and are backed by a top 10 global real estate manager.

Vertically integrated platform with expertise in-house

We have a fully integrated debt platform with experience across originations, servicing, specialist servicing and portfolio management. We are able to handle every aspect of the loan life cycle in-house allowing for greater control of loan outcomes.

Scale & resources

Our private debt team has over 100 investment professionals, including over 40 originators who help to generate broad deal flow and perform deep diligence to identify high-quality investments for client portfolios.

The opportunity for investors

The $4.8 trillion U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) mortgage market is shifting as banks pull back, opening the door for investors to step in and capture more lending opportunities through debt strategies.

With lower volatility and greater stability than many asset classes, real estate credit can potentially offer investors a way to diversify and reduce risk in their portfolios.

High returns have followed past market resets, giving investors the potential to achieve attractive vintage performance by investing during periods of market dislocation.

Real estate credit has historically delivered attractive returns, offering investors the chance for a more consistent income with a proven track record of outperformance compared to public corporate bonds.

High risk-free rates and rest valuations potentially offer higher risk-adjusted returns on newly originated CRE loans. Investors also benefit from the real estate collateral, helping to shield against potential losses.

Portfolio management
Principal Real Estate

We believe bottom-up stock selection is the most reliable and repeatable source of consistent performance. Through focused fundamental research and disciplined risk management, we strive to take advantage of persistent behavioral biases and impediments to capital flows, which often create market inefficiencies and opportunities.

chris
Christopher Duey
Senior Managing Director, Head of Private Debt Portfolio Management
33 years of experience
Kirloes K Gerges
Kirloes K Gerges
Managing Director - Portfolio Management
21 years of experience
Troy Kort
Troy W. Kort, CFA
Managing Director - Portfolio Management
32 years of experience

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Footnotes

Principal Real Estate became registered with the SEC in November 1999. Activities noted prior to this date above were conducted beginning with the real estate investment management area of Principal Life Insurance Company and later Principal Capital Real Estate Investors, LLC, the predecessor firm to Principal Real Estate Investors, LLC. Managers ranked by total worldwide real estate assets (net of leverage, including contributions committed or received, but not yet invested; REOCs are included with equity; REIT securities are excluded), as of 30 June 2025. “The Largest Real Estate Investment Managers,” Pensions & Investments, 10 November 2025 Source: Mortgage Bankers Association, 1Q 2025

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

Real estate investment options are subject to risks associated with credit, liquidity, interest rate fluctuation, adverse general and local economic conditions, and decreases in real estate values and occupancy rates.

Investments in private debt, including leveraged loans, middle market loans, and mezzanine debt, second liens, are subject to various risk factors, including credit risk, liquidity risk and interest rate risk. Commercial mortgage is subject to the basic risk of lending and direct ownership of commercial real estate mortgages.

Principal Real Estate is a trade name of Principal Real Estate Investors, LLC, an affiliate of Principal Global Investors.