Compared to real estate private equity fundraising in first quarter 2017, the second quarter of this year looks positively high-five-worthy. While the first quarter was the slowest first three months since at least first quarter 2013, the most recent quarter is very similar to second quarter 2016. Still off a bit, but not by all that much.

A total of 36 private-equity real estate funds recorded final closings during second quarter 2017, raising an aggregate total of $30.1 billion, according to Institutional Real Estate, Inc.’s FundTracker database. This represents about $3.4 billion less than capital raised in second quarter 2016, and $2.5 billion less than 2015. This 10 percent decrease from last year is bad enough, but there is more to the story.

When we compare first-half performances instead of just looking at the past three months, the decrease in fundraising is even greater. 2015 saw $64.2 billion raised by funds closing in the first half. Aggregate fundraising