Columnist Ben Johnson has some sound advice for institutional players as we swing into a continuation of 2012.

It's time to carefully consider all of the tired and endless cliches you've heard over the years referring to our neighboring Great White North. In fact, I would highly recommend that you summarily jettison them. (You can start by losing the "eh" after every sentence, for example.)

Entering the final stages of 2012, institutional investors are seriously taking stock of their returns and the role of commercial property in their future portfolio planning. As more firms gauge their portfolio allocations and overall market positioning, to be blunt, the results have been mixed at best.

It's no secret that the pension fund industry moves in lockstep at times, in an almost herd-like fashion, when it comes to all things relating to real estate investing. But there are a few clear leaders in the space, and their movements are considered bellwethers for the industry.

Anything that transitions from "alternative" to "essential" takes time, right? As someone who has lived and breathed commercial real estate for the better part of nearly three decades (I know, I don't look that old), it still amazes me how long it takes for true change to occur in our industry.

It's funny what a little economic crisis can do. By now, we all know that volatility has become a part of daily life in the new global economy. As a result, many institutional investors and their consultants have "muddled through" over the past four years in a kind of dreamy world where reality often has intruded in a swift and harsh manner.

When considering the institutional investor universe, endowments are not often top of mind. However, these educationbased money managers are among the elite group of institutions that invest in commercial real estate, so their movements, simply put, matter.

When the California State Teachers' Retirement System lowered its assumed annual rate of return in January for the second time in a little over a year, something was obviously afoot.