StepStone's record fundraise and a 'perfect storm' for secondaries

On the heels of PERE's exclusive report last week on New York-based manager StepStone Group raising the private real estate sector's largest-ever secondaries fund, we spotlight the massive capital haul and the emergence of real estate secondaries more broadly as a major fundraising theme in a time of market dislocation. Indeed, StepStone is not the only private real estate manager eyeing big opportunities in the once-nascent strategy. Its $4.5 billion fundraise for StepStone Real Estate Partners V bested a previous record set less than a year ago by Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Vintage Real Estate Partners III. Meanwhile, Brookfield is preparing to launch its second real estate secondaries vehicle after closing its first on $1.3 billion in commitments last August, and Neuberger Berman closed a $1 billion vehicle of its own in February. What is driving all of this momentum? A "perfect storm" of factors, including high interest rates, illiquidity and dislocation in capital markets, persistent inflation and, most recently, tariff disruption. Listen as host Greg Dool, PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE editor Evelyn Lee break it all down, with guest appearances from Secondaries Investor editor Madeleine Farman and Achal Gandhi, chief investment officer for indirect strategies at CBRE Investment Management.