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.