While the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes to a decade-long global economic expansion, and real estate transaction and fundraising activity slowed in 2020, most real estate investment managers still reported impressive growth, as reflected in the findings of Global Investment Managers 2021, the results of the annual survey sponsored by Property Funds Research and Institutional Real Estate, Inc.

The global real estate industry continues to reach new heights post–global financial crisis. During the past 10 years, total AUM has more than tripled. This year’s survey, which captured 2020 AUM figures from 212 investment managers, pegged total AUM at $4.65 trillion, an impressive increase from the 2010 total of $1.47 trillion. In addition, global AUM is up 12.9 percent from the figure of $4.12 trillion reported in last year’s survey.

Similar to years past, the survey shows the industry is extremely top heavy, with the top 10 largest firms claiming 33.2 percent