10 June 2026, Amsterdam – Total global real estate assets under management (AUM) rose to €3.8 trillion at year-end 2025, a 5.7% increase from the €3.6 trillion recorded the previous year, according to the Fund Manager Survey 2026 published today by ANREV, INREV and NCREIF.
Based on year-end 2025 data, the results mark the end of a three-year contraction and point to a market beginning to recover, supported by interest rate stabilisation, improving property valuations and a gradual return of investor confidence.
Key findings from the survey include:
- Global real estate AUM rose 5.7% to €3.8 trillion at year-end 2025, marking the third highest value since inception
- Third quartile managers expanded their share of global AUM from 12% to 16%, as consolidation broadens beyond the largest firms
- Global dry powder fell to €179 billion, the lowest level recorded since tracking began in 2020
- Core allocations rose to 72% globally, up from 63% in 2024, as managers shifted back toward lower-risk, income-producing strategies
- 40% of European and 43% of North American managers are acquiring operational platforms as part of their investment strategy
A recovery taking hold
The rise in global real estate AUM reflects improving conditions across major markets. After three consecutive years of contraction from the 2021 peak of €4.1 trillion, the 2025 results point to a market that has worked through the worst of the repricing cycle.
The shift in investment style tells the same story. Core allocations rose from 63% to 72% globally, the highest level in several years, while opportunistic allocations fell from 27% to 20%. In Europe, core reached 83% – its highest share in over five years. In North America, the move was sharper still, with core rising from 80% to 87%. In Europe, the trend is partly driven by growing capital flows into residential and living strategies, which most managers classify as core. This is a sign of confidence: a return to core reflects improving income fundamentals and stabilising valuations, not a retreat from risk.
Consolidation broadens
Upper quartile managers retained their dominant position, accounting for more than €3 trillion of global real estate AUM. The more significant development in 2025 is the growth of third quartile managers, whose share of total global AUM rose from 12% to 16%. This mirrors the consolidation dynamic seen among upper quartile managers over the previous two to three years, and it indicates a trickle-down effect with third-quartile managers following their larger counterparts. They are building scale, expanding into new strategies, and raising fresh capital to deploy.
Overall, merger and acquisition activity continued to exceed intentions: 15% of managers were involved in mergers during 2025 and 11% completed acquisitions, both above the levels anticipated when managers were surveyed the previous year.
Top fund managers
The total AUM of the global top 10 fund managers held steady at €1.9 trillion, with the ranking showing notable stability at the top. Blackstone retained its leading position at €480.8 billion, with Brookfield Asset Management (€236.0 billion) in second place and Prologis third (€200.3 billion). The consistency at the upper end of the table reflects a market in which scale has become the defining competitive advantage.
At the regional level, the clearest movement came in Europe, where UBS Asset Management rose three places to become the largest manager in the region, and BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts entered the top 10 following its acquisition of AXA Investment Managers. Both moves are direct expressions of the M&A consolidation running through the market. In Asia Pacific, CapitaLand Investment rose to the top position. In North America, Blackstone retained first place.
Mixed picture for dry powder
Global dry powder fell to €179 billion at year-end 2025, the lowest level since the survey began tracking this metric in 2020, and equivalent to 6.7% of total AUM. Upper quartile managers continued to actively deploy capital, with dry powder falling to €132 billion. Third quartile managers saw their combined dry powder almost double, from €17 billion to €30 billion, reflecting a significant influx of new commitments flowing into that tier as mid-scale managers build out new strategies and expand their capital base.
Iryna Pylypchuk, Director of Research and Market Information at INREV, said: “The 2025 results are an important moment for the industry. For the first time in three years, global real estate AUM has grown – and the signals are more encouraging than the number itself.
“The return to core is the clearest indication that investor confidence is rebuilding. This is not a defensive rotation. When managers and investors move back toward core in the volumes we are seeing – particularly in Europe and North America – it reflects genuine conviction in the underlying fundamentals of the asset class.
“The consolidation story is also entering a new phase. If the new capital raised by third quartile managers is put to work as we expect, the momentum visible in this year’s data has further to run.
“And there is clear evidence that real estate is changing structurally. Looking at average AUM per employee, the ratio has increased by over 30% from €56 million per employee in 2007 to approximately €73 million in 2025. This highlights the evolution of real estate to a mature asset class. While firms have grown substantially in size, the increase in assets under management has outpaced the workforce growth on a per-employee basis, reflecting the increasing organisational complexity and how managers applied economies of scale and new technologies.
Four in ten managers in Europe and North America are now acquiring operational platforms – indicating a growing understanding of the need to move beyond traditional real estate practices to generate returns. The managers who will lead the next cycle are those with the operational expertise to accompany capital.”