Preliminary data from Institutional Real Estate, Inc.’s FundTracker database indicates 21 real estate private equity funds held final closes during the first quarter, raising $18.3 billion in equity commitments. Fundraising in the first three months of the year was higher than in fourth quarter 2019, when $14.7 billion was raised, but well below the average quarterly fundraising total of the past three years of $28.3 billion.

Nearly half of the capital raised — $8.5 billion — was earmarked for investment in the United States. Another $4.0 billion targeted global investments, while funds investing in Asia Pacific and Europe accounted for $3.7 billion and $2.1 billion, respectively.

Among closed-end funds completing their fundraising in first quarter 2020, the lion’s share of capital ($11.1 billion) was raised for value-added investment strategies. Opportunistic investment strategies raised an additional $4.9 billion. Closed-end core and core-plus funds raised $2