Chart of the Week: Fundraising Throughout the Years

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Data from PERE Research & Analytics has revealed that a total of $604.3 billion had been raised between 1,572 funds from 2008 to the first half of 2014. Fundraising rebounded significantly since the financial crisis of 2008, with H1 2014 potentially outshining pre-crisis fundraising levels. In H1 2014, $56.3 billion had been raised between 101 funds, an increase from a year prior where in H1 2013 $51.5 billion had been raised by 146 funds.

Since its lowest point in 2010, fundraising had gradually increased each year with 2013 showing a 112 percent growth over 2010. Opportunity funds make up the majority of the fundraising between 2008 and the first half of 2014, raising a total of $252.7 billion or 42 percent. Value-add fundraising came in second, raising $158.9 billion, or 26 percent. The least favoured strategy for private real estate is secondary fundraising, with an aggregate size of $4.9 billion with a majority of the capital being raised in 2010.

Regionally, North America was the most preferred region, with an aggregate fundraising size of $236.1 billion, or approximately 39 percent. The largest North American focused fund to close in the period was the Lone Star Fund VI, managed by the Lone Star Funds, which closed on $7.5 billion in 2008. While North America raised the most capital between 2008 and 2013, in H1 2014, Europe had been the more dominate location, making up nearly half of the total capital raised. One fund alone accounts for about 30 percent of the $24.7 billion raised for European focused fundraising in H1 2014. That fund is the Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV, managed by The Blackstone Group, which closed on €5 billion this past March.