The secondary market’s record-breaking $110 billion in transaction volume, according to Campbell Lutyens, during the first half of 2025 has not only redefined portfolio management—it has emerged as a powerful capital formation engine for real assets. Once seen as a liquidity outlet for distressed sellers, secondaries are now central to how institutional and increasingly retail capital is raised and deployed across infrastructure, credit, and real estate. 

LP-led deals remained the largest segment at $59 billion, but GP-led transactions surged to $48 billion, noted Campbell Lutyens, with more than half pricing at or above par as sponsors increasingly turned to continuation vehicles to raise growth capital for top-performing assets. Average LP discounts held steady at 13.3%, while infrastructure and credit funds saw far tighter levels, 6% and 8% respectively, underscoring investor appetite for real assets.   

While infrastructure secondaries ($9.1 billion) and credit secondaries ($4.6 billion) have captured early headlines, real estate secondaries are gaining ground quickly, reflecting investor demand for income stability, inflation hedging, and opportunities to step into discounted portfolios. Real estate secondaries had lagged buyout and infrastructure activity due to asset-level complexity, but that is changing as sponsors leverage continuation vehicles and LP-led sales to recapitalize high-performing portfolios. 

Several large managers have already pushed this trend forward. Landmark Partners (part of Ares), one of the most established players in real estate secondaries, has deployed billions this year into recapitalizations of multifamily and industrial funds, citing “a rare vintage” for secondary entry given the pricing reset across U.S. real estate.  

Blackstone Strategic Partners, historically the largest secondary buyer globally, is allocating more capital into GP-led real estate continuation vehicles, including logistics platforms and necessity retail, to provide liquidity for LPs while anchoring growth for sponsors. Ardian, another global heavyweight, has leaned into Europe and U.S. multifamily deals, reporting strong demand from pensions and sovereign wealth funds eager to reduce exposure while locking in liquidity. 

Recent transactions highlight this momentum. In Q2, a $1.4 billion continuation vehicle for a multifamily portfolio cleared at near par, underpinned by resilient rent growth and occupancy. A $900 million industrial continuation vehicle—focused on last-mile logistics assets in Dallas, Atlanta, and Phoenix—was oversubscribed despite broader market repricing. On the LP side, multiple pensions and endowments have exited diversified property portfolios at discounts of 8–12%, allowing secondary buyers to step into stabilized multifamily and retail repositioning plays at attractive valuations. 

The rise of evergreen funds, which raised $16 billion in the first half of 2025 and now exceed $80 billion cumulatively, according to Campbell Lutyens, amplifies this dynamic. With roughly 60% of evergreen flows directed into secondaries—much of it targeting real assets—these vehicles are effectively creating a parallel fundraising channel for infrastructure, credit, and now real estate. Firms like Apollo, Hamilton Lane, and StepStone have all launched evergreen secondary platforms aimed at HNW and retail investors, giving real assets unprecedented distribution beyond the traditional institutional gatekeepers. 

For sponsors, the implications are profound. Infrastructure and credit secondaries are already structural complements to primary fundraising, and real estate is following suit. GP-led real estate continuation vehicles are becoming mainstream fundraising tools, especially for multifamily, industrial, and necessity retail strategies. LP-led trades help institutions rebalance portfolios under denominator effect pressures, while providing buyers with scaled entry into discounted but high-quality assets. 

For investors, this means real assets can now be accessed through both primary and secondary channels with far more flexibility on pricing, timing, and liquidity. With discounts tightening in infrastructure and credit secondaries and real estate continuation vehicles increasingly trading at or above par, the signal is clear: secondaries are no longer just tactical liquidity tools—they are now a structural driver of capital raising and growth across the real asset spectrum.