Stanger: Alternative Investment Fundraising Surges to $203.7 Billion in 2025

Alternative Investment fundraising in 2025 totaled approximately $203.7 billion, a 35.5% increase from last year and a staggering 121.9% jump from 2023 levels, according to data analysis conducted by Robert A. Stanger & Company Inc. The continued surge of retail capital into alternative investments has helped drive fundraising totals past the $1 trillion mark over the past 25 years.

Fundraising in 2025 was led by non-traded business development companies at $63 billion, interval funds at $39.8 billion, and tender offer funds at $33.1 billion. Publicly registered and private BDC fundraising finished the year up 13.9% as compared to 2024. However, concerns over loan defaults, valuation transparency, and interest rate uncertainty contributed to a year-end slowdown in monthly fundraising and increased investor demand for redemptions. Combined monthly fundraising in publicly registered and private BDCs totaled $4.8 billion in December 2025, a 22.6% decline from the March 2025 peak of $6.2 billion.

“Publicly registered and private BDC fundraising surpassed $63 billion in 2025, however, fourth quarter sales and preliminary redemption results tell the story of a new market dynamic,” said Kevin T. Gannon, chairman and chief executive officer of Stanger. “BDC fundraising in Q4 recorded a 10.1% decline from the prior quarter and redemptions reported by publicly registered non-traded BDCs to date report a combined increase of 200% by BDCs with aggregate [net asset values] exceeding $1 billion. With several BDCs expected to report in the coming weeks, Stanger believes this trend will continue for the quarter and into the new year.”

Fundraising in public non-traded real estate investment trusts remained relatively flat year-over-year with $5.7 billion raised in 2025 compared to $6.1 billion in 2024. Their private counterparts, however, recorded $9.5 billion in 2025 capital formation and have surged 80.9% from their 2024 total.

Similarly, Delaware statutory trust fundraising totaled $8.2 billion in 2025, according to a mixture of both Stanger and Mountain Dell Consulting data, a 45.4% increase from the prior year. Per Mountain Dell data, AltsWire reported that 2025 DST fundraising was led by Ares Real Estate Exchange with $1.6 billion in total equity raised, and Hines Real Estate Exchange with a total equity raise of approximately $762.3 million.

In December 2025 alone, DSTs and public and private non-traded REITs combined for $3.7 billion in monthly fundraising – a 152.6% increase from their collective low of $1.5 billion raised in February 2025.

“The recent rise in fundraising levels for non-traded REITs and DSTs has coincided with performance rebounding significantly after two challenging years,” said Gannon. “After declining 3% in 2023 and moderately rebounding to 1.1% in 2024, the Stanger NAV REIT Total Return Index is expected to close 2025 at an all-time high, posting a preliminary 5.8% total return for the year. The combination of strengthening returns and increased capital inflows suggests that non-traded REITs are regaining their footing amid renewed investor confidence heading into 2026.”

Stanger’s survey of top sponsors tracks fundraising of all alternative investments offered via the retail pipeline, including publicly registered non-traded REITs, non-traded BDCs, interval funds, non-traded preferred stock of traded REITs, DSTs, opportunity zone funds, and other private placement offerings.

According to Randy Sweetman, executive managing director of Stanger: “The top 10 fundraisers in the alternative investment space in 2025 include Blackstone ($28 billion), KKR ($16.6 billion), Cliffwater ($16.5 billion), Ares ($16 billion), Blue Owl ($15.3 billion), Apollo ($10.2 billion), StepStone ($7.5 billion), Brookfield ($5.3 billion), Goldman Sachs ($4.7 billion) and HPS Investment Partners ($4.6 billion).”

Founded in 1978, Robert A. Stanger & Company is an investment banking firm specializing in providing investment banking, financial advisory, fairness opinion and asset and securities valuation services to partnerships, real estate investment trusts, and real estate advisory and management companies in support of strategic planning and execution, capital formation and financings, mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, and consolidations.

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