Ares Management completed $3.3B in fundraising for its Landmark Real Estate Fund IX and associated vehicles, which will buy stakes in other private, generally less liquid real estate investment funds.

“As we continue to capitalize on the attractive supply-demand imbalance and the increasing investor interest in secondary markets, we believe we are well positioned to generate compelling risk-adjusted returns,” Ares partner Michelle Creed said in a statement.

Creed, along with Ares partner Jamie Sunday, leads the investor's real estate secondaries strategy.

The fund is the alternative investor's first since it acquired Landmark Partners, a secondaries platform, for just over $1B in 2021. So far, Ares' real estate secondaries strategy has invested or committed about $8.3B across more than 200 transactions.

Ares isn't the only major investor in the secondaries realm. Late in November, Blackstone closed on its Strategic Partners Real Estate VIII fund, which specializes in real estate secondaries, raising a total of $2.6B.

Sellers are hoping their overallocation in private equity will be resolved by exits, but those aren't happening at a robust enough pace, Blackstone Strategic Partners Global Head Verdun Perry told PE Hub.

“So instead, they're pursuing opportunities on the secondary market,” Perry said.