The worldwide shift into alternative assets gathered pace in 2016 as more institutional investors turned to property, infrastructure, private equity and hedge funds in search of better returns. Asset purchasing programmes by central banks in response to the 2007-08 financial crisis have led to strong gains and stretched valuations across many publicly traded bond and equity markets, helping to strengthen the attraction of alternatives to large investors. But the huge scale of new cash inflows into alternatives in recent years has also driven up valuations across these illiquid assets and raised concerns that investors may be disappointed by future returns that are widely expected to be lower than those achieved historically.