Private Placement REITs Grow to $33.1B in Q1 as Fundraising, Performance Accelerate
Private placement REITs posted strong first-quarter results, with aggregate net asset value climbing to $33.1 billion, up 9.4% from Q4 2025 and 52.2% year-over-year, as fundraising approached record levels and performance topped public market benchmarks, according to investment banking and research firm Robert A. Stanger & Company.
These vehicles now represent 26.9% of the $123 billion non-listed REIT market, up from 25.1% at year-end 2025 and 16.5% at year-end 2024.
The Stanger Private NAV REIT Total Return Index gained 2.3% in Q1 2026 and 9.8% over the trailing 12 months, outperforming the Stanger Public NAV REIT Total Return Index by more than 360 basis points and the Stanger Composite NAV REIT Total Return Index by nearly 300 basis points. The index also exceeded all three major public REIT benchmarks tracked by Stanger, which averaged a 5.8% return over the past year.
Private placement REITs raised $2.3 billion in Q1 2026, the second-highest quarterly total on record and an 8.5% increase over Q1 2025. Trailing 12-month fundraising reached $9.8 billion through March, edging above the $9.6 billion raised in all of 2025. Notably, every redemption request across all tracked private placement NAV REITs was satisfied in full during the quarter, with approximately $272 million returned to investors.
“Capital continues to flow toward private placement real estate vehicles, and performance is validating that shift,” said Kevin T. Gannon, Chairman and CEO of Stanger. “With redemption queues clear and fundraising near record levels, the case for hard assets with low obsolescence is being made in the data.”
The picture was more mixed for private placement BDCs. Aggregate NAV reached $78.2 billion in Q1, up 7.4% quarter-over-quarter and 23.1% year-over-year. However, fundraising slowed sharply to $4.1 billion; the lowest quarterly total since Q1 2024 and a 37.0% decline from Q4 2025.
Of the 22 private placement BDCs conducting regular quarterly tender offers, sponsors returned $1.2 billion to investors and fulfilled 74% of redemption requests, with six funds prorating and an estimated $424 million in demand left unmet, Stanger reported.