Fourth quarter 2016 gave it the good ol’ college try but, in the end, fell short of bringing 2016 private-equity real estate fundraising across the $100 billion finish line. A total of 38 private-equity real estate funds recorded final closings during fourth quarter 2016, raising an aggregate total of $26.9 billion, according to IREI’s FundTracker database. This represents $6.3 billion more than capital raised in fourth quarter 2015, and three more funds closing in fourth quarter 2016 than the same period 2015. This final quarter of fundraising brought the total capital raised by the 131 funds reaching a final close in 2016 to $98.4 billion. This total looks pretty good when compared to 2014, when the total raised was $92.6 billion via 116 closed funds. The industry would be celebrating if that was the most recent fundraising year. However, 2014 was followed by 2015, when $110.0 billion was raised by 140 funds reaching final close. Instead of celebrating an almost-$100