As per the “Real Estate Trends Report 2026” from With Intelligence and S&P Global, the institutional investment activity in the global real estate sector has slowed significantly in 2026.
The study discovered global real estate fundraising shrinking to just USD 81.7 billion in the first six months of the year, the third-lowest half-year total in more than a decade.
Similarly, new fund launches have gotten smaller, with a total of 276 funds raising just USD 74.3 billion in the first half, the lowest since 2017.
Against this backdrop, more investors are turning to non-core real estate strategies to help fill the gap.
“Many of the challenges that have been weighing on real estate fundraising for the past several months have started to become more pronounced in 2026,” said Igor Pakovic, global real estate research lead at With Intelligence, S&P Global.
“A combination of continued geopolitical volatility, macroeconomic uncertainty, and high borrowing costs has really crimped fundraising and new fund launches, pushing institutional investors to broaden their sights for hard asset exposure,” he added further.
Apart from the first-half fundraising sinking to its historic low, fund launch targets too have gone down to their lowest level since 2017.
With Intelligence has tracked the lowest targeted amount of capital by real estate fund launches in a six-month period since 2017, with USD 74.3 billion of capital commitments targeted by 276 funds, the agency stated further.
Among allocators tracked by With Intelligence, non-core strategies account for 70% of first-half intentions, with US public pensions dominating the ranking of most active mandate issuers.
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