Raising capital wasn’t easy in 2024, with PERE research showing that fundraising timeframes stretched to 24 months, which is double what GPs saw in 2019. Even so, there were bright spots in key asset classes and regions.
For firms actively raising capital, what did the year look like? Which asset classes captured the most investment, and which regions saw the strongest activity?
Agora’s 2025 CRE Fundraising Market Pulse examines these trends across the United States. Understanding this past year can help you plan for 2025 and identify opportunities for upcoming projects.
This article shares key fundraising trends from our report, giving GPs a preview of the insights that shaped the market in 2024 and beyond.
What’s inside the report
Our market pulse shares data from over 600 real estate investment firms, comparing performance across four major asset classes and all 50 states. The data provides insight into:
- Return and capital raised percentages for multifamily, industrial, retail and residential.
- Project volume, capital investment and returns by regions.
- Top 10 state rankings for investment amounts, returns and number of projects.
- Quarter-by-quarter performance data.
- Market outlook for 2025.
Asset class insights
Our data focuses on four key asset classes: multifamily, residential, industrial and retail. The residential category includes condos, townhomes, build-to-rent, and other single-family properties.
Multifamily and residential
Multifamily remained the top asset class for raising capital and for investor returns. This isn’t surprising given the housing industry’s ongoing supply constraints. Lack of new housing combined with growing household formation means that the US needs to build 4.3 million more apartments in the next ten years to meet rental housing demand.
Besides limited overall housing supply, current interest rates and housing prices mean that renting costs the average resident about 6% less than buying a median-priced home with a mortgage. The gap widens even more when you factor in taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
Our quarterly trend data also consistently showed multifamily and residential as the highest percentage of capital raised for all four quarters. Housing demand also contributed to multifamily and residential generating 81% of total returns compared to other top asset classes throughout the year.
Returns distribution by asset class
Industrial
Industrial remained strong throughout the year, increasing from 10% of projects in Q1 to nearly 23% by Q4. This asset class continues to benefit from the expansion of e-commerce, which Mordor Intelligence projects will grow at a CAGR of 15.8% through 2030. It was the highest-performing non-residential sector in terms of returns and saw a smaller decline in Q4 compared to other asset classes.
Retail
Retail had a mixed year, with some growth in the first half but a decline in Q4. It reached nearly 16% of projects in Q2 before falling to just over 7% by year-end. Returns remained the lowest among asset classes, though the sector showed resilience in certain markets.
Total capital raised by asset class
Top regional trends
We also grouped state data into five regions including the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest and West. The biggest regional trends for the year included:
Southeast and Southwest
The Sunbelt areas continue to see population growth which also drives real estate investment across various asset classes. Investors in the Southeast states of Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia provided 39.99% of all capital for the year.
Texas led the way with 15.61% of investment returns, more than 60% higher than the next closest state. Southeast states of North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia accounted for 16.72% of all returns for the year.
The data also shows that the Southwest region was the only one to see major returns growth in Q4 while all other regions saw declines.
Northeast
The Northeast was the second highest region for investment returns with 19.97% of all capital raised. The region showed the strongest investment returns in Q2 and raised the highest percentage of capital in Q1. States like New York contributed to this activity especially in multifamily and residential investments.
Regional investment returns
Key takeaways and market outlook
Looking back at 2024, capital raising was challenging, but certain asset classes and regions showed stability. Multifamily led the way, industrial experienced steady growth, and the Sunbelt regions attracted the most investment. These trends set the stage for what’s ahead in 2025.
With $394 billion in dry powder for commercial real estate projects, there’s substantial capital waiting for the right market opportunities. Our data gives some insight into where that capital may flow based on 2024’s strongest performers.
