As the world came out of the great financial crisis, the industry began to wonder whether closed- and open-end funds were still the way to invest. Large investors wanted more control and were banding into club deals or going direct through joint ventures. Smaller investors were staying out of the market altogether. Mid-size investors were stuck in the middle. But with real estate back to pre-recession levels in the major gateway cities and moving in the right direction in secondary cities, it is safe to say real estate is back, and real estate funds are seeing a strong resurgence.

At the midpoint of the year, at least 939 actively marketed funds were seeking more than $372.1 billion. (Not all funds list a maximum fund size. Of the 939 total, 279 funds — primarily open-end — do not list a target size.) In January, the FundTracker database was tracking 914 funds with a total target of $353.5 billion. Although some of this jump in numbers is undoubtedly the result of capturi