Through the first nine months of the year, 156 new funds have launched, equaling the last year’s 12-month total. A total of 51 new investment funds were launched during third quarter 2021, the highest number of fund launchings since third quarter 2017 when 53 funds were launched. The new investment funds are seeking to raise an aggregate of approximately $48.4 billion, close to second quarter’s fundraising target of $46.6 billion and first quarter's fundraising target of $48.2 billion.

The largest fund to launch in third quarter was Blackstone’s Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia III, launched in early July and seeking to raise approximately $9 billion. The fund will focus on investing in regional malls, retail and warehouse properties in Australia, China and India. To date, the fund has raised $4 billion, and Blackstone announced they expect to more than double this to approximately $9 billion. This would make the opportunistic fund 30 percent larger than its predece