The number of debt funds, as well as the amount of capital they are raising, is decreasing in 2017, according to Institutional Real Estate, Inc.’s FundTracker database.
Debt-focused real estate funds raised $2.9 billion through June 1, 2017. In 2016, debt-focused funds raised $20.7 billion. In addition, hybrid funds, which include equity and debt investment, raised $3.6 billion in the first five months of the year, compared with $12.8 billion in 2016.
But that is no surprise — the entire fundraising market is slowing down, so it makes sense debt fundraising also would slow. Real estate funds raised $109.2 billion in 2015, $99.0 billion in 2016 and $24.3 billion in the first five months of 2017.
Moreover, debt vehicles have seen a decline in their share of the market. According to the FundTracker database, 459 real estate funds have held a final closing since Jan. 1, 2014. Of those, 71 funds (15 percent) were focused exclusively on debt. An additional 54 fund
