Capital targeted by Europe-focused real estate debt funds up 335% from a year ago

According to data tracked by Preqin, there are currently 19 Europe-focused real estate debt funds in the market targeting commitments of €10 billion ($12.8 billion) - compared to just €2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) a year ago. The increase is driven by institutional investors' increased appetite for real estate debt, as the number of new fund searches increased significantly from a year ago. Among new fund searches in the first-quarter of 2013, 27% were targeting real estate debt funds, compared with 8% in the first quarter of 2012.