Despite uncertainty introduced by the war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a total of 26 real estate funds held a final close in first quarter 2026, with an aggregate equity raise of $27.1 billion, according to the latest data collected by Institutional Real Estate, Inc.’s IRE.IQ database. That follows $157.8 billion in equity fundraising by 136 real estate investment funds that held a final close in 2025, according to IRE.IQ — a significant increase from the $91.8 billion raised by 85 real estate funds holding a final close in 2024.
The average fund size in the first quarter was close to $1.1 billion — on par with the fourth quarter — and the median was $875 million. Nearly half of the funds raised $1 billion or more, and three raised in excess of $2 billion.
On average, real estate investment funds took 20 months to reach final close, with a median of 18 months and a range of four to 41 months. That reflects the challenging fundraising environment
