NEW YORK (Reuters) -Carlyle has raised $9 billion for its latest U.S. real estate fund, the investment group told Reuters on Monday, giving it a record fundraising haul to deploy into land and buildings amid tentative signs of recovery in parts of the sector.

Many asset managers have struggled to coax their backers, which include pension funds and other large financial institutions, to put up cash for real estate investments in recent years, as the market digested factors including slumping demand for commercial real estate and offices in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

The amount of private capital raised globally for real estate investments sagged in 2024 to $131 billion, its lowest since 2012, but has started to rebound this year, mainly driven by a few very large fundraising rounds, according to data from PEI Group.

Despite the backdrop, Carlyle's tenth fund of its kind surpassed the $8 billion raised for its predecessor in 2021.

Carlyle's head of U.S. real estate, Rob Stuckey, said investors committed money during "one of the most difficult fundraising environments for real estate in recent memory."

Like the last two funds, this will have no exposure to office, hotels or traditional retail. Stuckey said he aimed to "avoid structurally challenged areas." Instead, Carlyle will put the new funds into the residential, self-storage and industrial sectors.  

"This is a compelling moment to invest, as we see improving fundamentals across our target sectors," he said, adding there was less liquidity - meaning fewer buyers or sources of capital for assets - in the market, which also presented an advantage.