The PERE 100: the world’s largest private real estate managers

The 2026 editions of the PERE 100/200 rankings carry forward the same methodology as the 2025 edition

The 2026 PERE manager rankings are based on the amount of private real estate direct investment capital raised by firms for funds closed between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2025, as well as for funds that were in market at the end of the counting period.

For the purpose of the rankings, we only count closed-end funds for which the fund manager has full discretion over the investment process, from selection over management to exit. As a consequence, we only accept blind-pool funds in which investors cannot exercise investment decisions and have no liquidity options before the end of the (multiple years long but finite) fund life, without approval from the manager. Funds must invest solely into private assets, and manager commitments (for interest alignment only) can be included, too. Capital committed by affiliated entities as well as fund leverage is not eligible. Finally, we do not count funds of funds or recycled or rolled-over capital from previous fundraises.

We also count capital raised for co-investments and separately managed accounts, as long as they either fulfill the above criteria, or serve as an “extension” of the main funds’ fundraise, even if the above criteria is not fully met. “Extension” is here defined as vehicles that invest alongside a selection of the portfolio assets of their respective main funds. We do not accept deal-by-deal fundraises.

For funds in market, capital raised via actual investor commitments which were made before the end of the counting period can be included, too. We cannot include commitments made after the end of the counting period, nor do we accept targets or expected commitments. For open-end funds that launched prior to the beginning of the counting period, we only count capital raised entirely within the five-year counting period.

In line with previous years, only funds that invest in real estate equity following a value-add or opportunistic strategy are considered. Core and core-plus vehicles are not considered in this ranking. Funds may acquire debt tranches; however, the end-goal of the investments made must be ownership of the underlying assets. Funds must also not seek to own assets in perpetuity but to eventually exit them before the end of the fund life.

The PERE 100 list, the top tier of our ranking, is measured by the capital support the firms receive from institutional investors for closed-end private funds and associated vehicles over the last five years. The ranking typically comprises managers with cross-border and multiple asset class strategies, often in more than one region.

Private real estate’s largest managers are maximizing their chances of fundraising success during a challenging market environment.

However, comparing the 2024 ranking with last year’s league table shows even private real estate’s most prolific capital raisers have had to stomach a slower pace of fundraising, with the PERE 100 losing 3.1 percent year-on-year from its rolling five-year total.

PERE’s ranking of the biggest 100 private equity real estate firms in the world is measured by the capital support the firms receive from institutional investors for closed-end private funds and associated vehicles over the last five years. The ranking typically comprises managers with cross-border and multiple asset class strategies, often in more than one region.

Our signature ranking of private real estate managers by equity raised for discretionary value-add or opportunistic strategies in the last five years shows how the industry has navigated its way through the pandemic-addled fog and has focused on its recovery.

Indeed, 2022’s ranking is a story of a fundraising market bounceback, with capital raised totaling $637 billion, 24.7 percent more than recorded in the 2021 ranking.

It would surprise few to learn how private real estate capital raising and deployment levels were adversely impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic. In this year’s PERE 100 ranking, the aggregate fundraising total was $510.9 billion, and at just 3.3 percent more than last year, that haul constituted the slowest growth for the ranking since its inception.

Private real estate’s biggest managers keep on getting bigger. It is an ongoing trend that is evident in a quick review of the 2019 and 2020 PERE 100 rankings. In the inaugural PERE 100 ranking, the top 10 managers accounted for $182 billion – or a jaw-dropping 42 percent – of the total $442.3 billion raised over the previous five years.

If you want evidence the world’s biggest private equity real estate firms are eating more of the institutional equity allocation pie than ever before, look no further than the inaugural PERE 100 ranking. Formerly, the PERE 30 and PERE 50, the PERE 100 is the first and last word on the capital raising exploits of the world’s top providers of higher risk and return private real estate strategies. The overarching story from this year’s ranking? The biggest are only getting bigger – both in proportionate and absolute terms.