DWS to liquidate US property fund amid mounting redemption pressures

RREEF Property Trust, the US real estate investment trust managed by Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm DWS, announced on September 18 that its board approved a full liquidation and dissolution plan. The fund, which manages roughly $337 million in assets across seven properties in five states, simply couldn’t keep up with the pace of investors heading for the exits.

The redemption math stopped working

Non-traded REITs like RREEF operate under redemption caps, typically limiting quarterly withdrawals to 5% of net asset value. In June 2026, RREEF fulfilled only 67.6% of redemption requests. That means nearly a third of investors who wanted out were told to wait, a shortfall of 32.4%. During some periods, the shortfall exceeded 30%.

The board concluded that an orderly liquidation would “best optimize shareholder value” given prevailing industry conditions. Effective immediately with the announcement, RREEF has suspended new share sales, its share redemption plan, and its distribution reinvestment plan. The liquidation itself still requires stockholder approval at a special meeting.

Solid returns, structural fragility

The irony is that RREEF’s performance numbers weren’t terrible. Class I shares delivered a 6.35% annualized total return since inception through August 31, 2026. Distribution yields ranged from 5.1% to 6.9% over the past two years. Those are respectable figures for a diversified real estate fund spanning industrial, retail, residential, and office properties.

A transatlantic problem

DWS isn’t just dealing with this in the US. The firm’s German open-ended real estate funds have experienced valuation markdowns of up to 7.3%, accompanied by increased outflows that have forced property sales on the European side of the business.

What this signals for the broader REIT sector

RREEF’s liquidation isn’t happening in isolation. Blackstone’s BREIT, the industry’s largest non-traded REIT, famously hit its redemption cap in late 2022 and spent months managing elevated withdrawal requests.

DWS stockholders will now wait for the special meeting where they’ll vote on the liquidation plan.

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