LONDON—Even as private equity real estate fundraising totals fell short of recent years, 2017's deal activity set a new high water mark globally, Preqin said Friday. The firm reported 5,191 deals for the year, totaling US$287 billion, a new record dollar amount surpassing the previous record-high established just a year earlier.

Not all regions experienced increases, though. While North America continues to account for the majority of deal activity, its share has declined since 2012 while Europe's has grown.

PE firms announced 3,489 North American transactions in '17 worth a total of US$155 billion, for slightly more than 67% of transactions and 54% of dollar volume. That compares to the region's 81% of transactions and 72% of dollar volume, respectively, in '12, although the total number of transactions globally was a little more than half as large in '12. It also represented a decline from 2016—mking North America the only region to experience a year-over-year drop.