It is possible the COVID-19 pandemic is beginning to have an impact on real estate fundraising activity, given some investors’ reluctance to commit capital without a face-to-face meeting. But while preliminary data for the third quarter indicates a drop-off from the previous quarter ($43.4 billion was raised by funds closing in the second quarter), it is actually an increase on a year-over-year basis. The $20.7 billion raised by funds that closed in third quarter 2020 exceeds the $19.9 billion raised by funds that closed in third quarter 2019.

At a first glance, the big story for third quarter fundraising is the strong showing by debt-focused real estate investment funds. Debt-focused funds were responsible for slightly more than half of the third quarter fundraising haul at nearly $10.6 billion. Much of the capital earmarked for real estate debt investment was raised by the largest fund to close in the third quarter — Blackstone Group’s Blackstone Real Estate Debt Stra