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Blackstone Group, one of the world's largest real estate owners, launched its first non-traded real estate investment trust this year to market to small investors, and has already raised $755.4M to deploy.
That represents 41% of all the capital raised in the entire non-traded REIT industry this year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Investment bank Robert A. Stanger & Co. said Blackstone’s vehicle has raised far more money than any of its competitors. Blackstone is targeting mom-and-pop investors, offering the product as a way to avoid the volatility of the publicly traded REITs while still participating in the commercial real estate market.
The industry has faced growing criticism the past few years due to its high fees and disclosure methods, on top of other concerns, the WSJ reports. Green Street Advisors managing director Phil Owens said Blackstone’s non-traded REIT represents a shift away from some of the negative aspects of the industry, but he held to Green Street’s position that investors would do better to buy publicly traded REITs.
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