Know technology or you’re out of the game, says Emmanuel Lumineau, chief executive of real estate investment platform BrickVest.

His comment underscores a growing realisation within real estate that managers need to embrace technological disruption in order to gain an edge in today’s crowded investment market.

Globally, real estate fundraising hit a first quarter record this year. In the first three months of 2018, investment managers raised $32.8 billion (€28 billion) based on 25 fund closings, establishing a record for most capital raised in a first quarter, according to Institutional Real Estate Inc’s FundTracker database. The first quarter 2018 total was $16.1 billion (€13.7 billion) more than the amount raised in first quarter 2017 and $100 million (€85.3 million) more than the previous first quarter record high set in 2015. And by all indications, investors’ appetite for real estate remains strong.

Late last year, a global report pub