The pandemic did not appear to have any ill effects on the real estate fundraising total registered during the second quarter. Instead, 28 funds reported final closings during the quarter, raising US$40.2 billion, according to Institutional Real Estate, Inc’s FundTracker database. This was the fourth-highest quarterly total on record since FundTracker started tracking data in 2007. In addition, the second quarter activity was a welcome step up from the first quarter’s slow start that recorded 22 fund closings and an aggregate fund raise of only US$18.8 billion. The first-half of 2020 total of US$59.0 billion is dwarfed by the US$84.2 billion raised during the first six months of 2019, but it is comparable to the US$59.4 billion raised in first-half 2018.

During the second quarter of 2020, 12 megafunds closed, raising US$33.3 billion, which represents 83 percent of the total capital raised. The largest fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe VI, rais