An article on The Wall Street Journal Online is discussing Harvard plan to sell up to $500 million in real estate assets.  Although Harvard’s endowment has approximately $5 Billion in real estate and future commitments to the properties.

Here’s an excerpt from the article about the losses posted and a little on the plan to sell:

Harvard’s own real-estate portfolio “suffered a loss of over 50%” for the fiscal year ended in June, according to a September report from Jane Mendillo, head of the company that manages the endowment, the nation’s largest. Harvard’s endowment posted miserable overall returns last year, declining 27.3% for the year that ended in June.

In November, Harvard began marketing a portfolio of stakes in more than 30 real-estate funds, ranging in size from $50 million to $500 million through Credit Suisse Group, according to several secondary-market buyers and intermediary firms familiar with the offering.

Some of the largest commitments are with real-estate-investment companies such as Beacon Capital Partners, Lubert Adler, Lone Star Funds and Westbrook Partners, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Close to 60% of the funds are in North America, but there are also a number of commitments with real-estate companies in Europe, Asia and South America, according to the documents. A spokesman for Credit Suisse declined to comment.

I really do not see this as a surprise at all.  Last year was not a great year for many investments at all, and really to see a 50% loss on real estate values isn’t as bad as some have seen.  Losing 27% of the total endowment is a strong blow, but when you have an endowment the size of Harvard’s (currently $26 billion) you generally have some room for ups and downs.

The Article states Harvard Yard is not for sale, but I am very interested in the price it would fetch.  I would also be interested in knowing if it’s true that everything is for sale, for the right price.