Thirty-seven are based in North America, and among them they allocate $518 billion to the asset class. In all, institutions have allocated $1.43 trillion to real estate worldwide. The US is not even represented in the rankings until the list reaches ninth place, where the California Public Employees Retirement System has allocated $30.5 billion to real estate assets.

The CalPERS allocation represents slightly less than 10% of the pension system's $332 billion in assets under management. That put its slightly below the mean of 10.6% in AUM allocated toward real estate. In fact, many of the largest institutional investors have considerably smaller allocations to real estate, such as Norges Bank Investment Management, in which real estate represents about 2.9% of its $922.3 billion in AUM.

Eighty-three percent of the top 100 investors globally have a preference for core funds, and 82% have a preference for value-added vehicles, says Preqin. Just 22% have a preference for funds of funds, while 6% have a preference for secondaries.

“Investors, as a whole, are satisfied with the performance of the asset class over recent years,” Senchal says. “However, they have reported concern over certain challenges, namely valuations and deal flow, which has only solidified their faith in the networks and consequently the deal sourcing capabilities of the largest and most successful firms. Unsurprisingly, with so much capital invested in the space by the largest investors, we could continue to see the prominence of the largest fund managers rise due to the scale of commitments that institutions must deploy to maintain their allocations to real estate.”

New York

NEW YORK CITY—With just 10 companies accounting for more than one-third of the aggregate $710 billion in capital raised over the past decade by the 100 largest real estate fund managers, it's clear that the sector's 800-lb. gorillas dominate. Moreover, says Preqin, the 20 largest funds closed in the past 10 years have all been raised by just five fund managers, and have secured close to $150 billion in institutional capital commitments collectively.

“With private real estate industry seeing increased concentration of capital at the top end of the market, the influence of the top 100 real estate fund managers has never been greater,” says Olver Senchal, head of real estate products at Preqin. “Collectively, these fund managers account for two-thirds of fundraising over the past decade, and consequently are able to influence the fundraising and deal activity of the market to a large degree.”

A closer look at the makeup of that top-10 list of fund managers also reveals that all but one of them are North American. Three of those 10 are based in New York City, including the top-ranked Blackstone Group, which over the past decade raised $83 billion, nearly half again as much as the second largest manager, Dallas-based Lone Star Funds.

In all, 68 of the 100 largest fund managers are based in North America, with 66 of those 68 based in the US. For the 100 largest institutional investors worldwide as ranked by Preqin, though, the geographic mix is more diversified: 41 are based in West Europe, and they currently allocate $636 billion to real estate.

Thirty-seven are based in North America, and among them they allocate $518 billion to the asset class. In all, institutions have allocated $1.43 trillion to real estate worldwide. The US is not even represented in the rankings until the list reaches ninth place, where the California Public Employees Retirement System has allocated $30.5 billion to real estate assets.

The CalPERS allocation represents slightly less than 10% of the pension system's $332 billion in assets under management. That put its slightly below the mean of 10.6% in AUM allocated toward real estate. In fact, many of the largest institutional investors have considerably smaller allocations to real estate, such as Norges Bank Investment Management, in which real estate represents about 2.9% of its $922.3 billion in AUM.

Eighty-three percent of the top 100 investors globally have a preference for core funds, and 82% have a preference for value-added vehicles, says Preqin. Just 22% have a preference for funds of funds, while 6% have a preference for secondaries.

“Investors, as a whole, are satisfied with the performance of the asset class over recent years,” Senchal says. “However, they have reported concern over certain challenges, namely valuations and deal flow, which has only solidified their faith in the networks and consequently the deal sourcing capabilities of the largest and most successful firms. Unsurprisingly, with so much capital invested in the space by the largest investors, we could continue to see the prominence of the largest fund managers rise due to the scale of commitments that institutions must deploy to maintain their allocations to real estate.”