Hedge Funds Increasingly Gravitate to Alternatives

Investing in commercial real estate is a way many hedge fund managers are looking to bolster returns at a time when there are fewer opportunities in the stock market, Associated Press reports.
The funds are getting into the market at a time when there are plenty of U.S. and non-U.S. investors willing to finance commercial real estate and also at a time when lenders are making increasingly risky loans such as interest-only mortgages.
"There are a lot of hedge funds sitting on billions of dollars that they need to put to work. So, they are putting it to work in other types of investment strategies that we have not seen them traditionally in," said Mary Ann Bartels, an analyst Merrill Lynch who tracks hedge fund investments.
According to Bartels, the new investment strategies are being used because of the lack of volatility in the market and because there are "too many players [hedge funds] in the field."