Judging by capital-raising figures, investment in large fund structures is definitely back in vogue. Equity totalling €18.1 billion poured into private European real estate funds in 2013, according to the latest (May 2014) Capital Raising survey from INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles; a five-year high and one that eclipsed the average amount raised across 2008–2012 by a staggering 77 percent. The “Total capital raised” chart on page 23 of the print edition shows the history of European fundraising over the 10-year period from 2004, pre- and post-crisis.

Above all other modes of investment, funds proved the most popular. “It’s safe to say that the model is not dead,” says Martina Malone, responsible for Prologis’s client relations and capital raising in Europe.

Inflows during 2014 are expected to tally significantly higher still, with mega-funds such as The Blackstone Group’s pan-European, opportu