Harvard University's endowment is looking to sell a portion of its $5 billion real estate portfolio to reduce its exposure to the troubled property market, the Wall Street Journal said.

The university's $5 billion real estate investment includes $2 billion in property holdings and $3 billion in future capital commitments, the paper said.

The $26 billion endowment -- the nation's largest -- is willing to sell any part of its real estate investments, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Harvard University, which suffered a 27 percent loss in its endowment, earlier tried selling some of its private equity stakes last year but bidders offered such low prices the sales effort was abandoned.

The university's real estate portfolio lost about 50 percent of its value for the fiscal year ended in June 2009, the paper said citing a September 2009 report from Jane Mendillo, head of the company that manages the endowment.

Harvard could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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