Fund Groups
Investment Capital for Real Estate Development & Housing Projects comes from thousands of sources throughout the USA and internationally. There are at least 6 primary categories of sponsor capital (required before bank debt) that are explained in the overview below:
Public Equity
The Public Equity category includes Corporations from many lines of business but typically those with a Financial Services sectors such as Insurance, Pension Funds, Investment Banks, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Universities, Health Systems, and Public Companies.
Private Equity
The Private Equity category includes professional investor groups that are organized and managed as Private Equity Firms whether they are still private or if they've gone public due to their relative size & scale.
Family Offices
The Family Offices category includes Ultra High Net Worth and High Net Worth individuals and families whether they invest personally or through a more formalized investment platform company or group. Often these are some of the same investors typically identified in the Private Equity category but with less "institutional" relationships.
Impact Funds
The Impact Funds category includes professional investor groups that prioritize the "social impact" of their activities at least as high as their financial expectations. Sometimes these investors are labeled as Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance ("ESG") focused or as "Shared Values" funds. A key differentiator is better "alignment of multiple stakeholder interests" in their underwriting, deployment, and management of their investments.
Real Estate Investment Trusts
The Real Estate Investment Trusts ("REIT") category includes both public and private Property REITS and Mortgage REITS that are invested in large scale portfolios. Often these investors are also vertically integrated "Operators" that actively manage assets throughout the real estate development lifecycle, These are typically "institutional" scale investors with extensive relationship networks incorporating each of the other fund groups profiled here due to their scale of operations nationally and globally.
Community Development
The Community Development category includes many segments of financial services institutions and groups that are typically "non-profits" with 501 (c) 3 status. The largest of these are Community Development Financial Institutions ("CDFI's") which are essentially non-profit owned banks that are regulated by US Treasury. Approximately 950 CDFI's are chartered in the USA with typically limited geographic areas of focus to provide financing and related support services to their local communities. Community Development Corporations ("CDC's") are another category of non-profit owned entities that prioritize the "social impact" of their activities at least as high as their financial expectations. A key differentiator is better "alignment of multiple stakeholder interests" in their underwriting, deployment, and management of their investments.