Real estate assets under management continue to increase

The amount of capital flowing to the real estate asset class has continued to increase year-over-year, as reflected by the growth in aggregate total real estate assets under management reported by the 208 firms in the Global Investment Managers 2015 survey conducted by Institutional Real Estate, Inc., and Property Funds Research. Last year’s survey saw the 2013 total grow by 10 percent over that of 2012, and the total has risen an additional 16 percent this year, growing from the 2013 total of $2.14 trillion to $2.48 trillion in 2014.

The Blackstone Group and Brookfield Asset Management continue their rivalry for the top spot. In the 2012 survey, Brookfield held the number one position. Last year, Blackstone moved ahead. And this year, Brookfield again moved into first place. The two behemoths both have more than $120 billion under management, so a billion here or there is probably statistically insignificant. BAM increased AUM by 16 percent, moving from