2025 DST Investment Activity: What the $8.4B Rebound Means for 1031 Investors

Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) investment activity saw a meaningful rebound in 2025, highlighting continued investor demand for passive real estate strategies and tax-efficient investment structures. According to industry tracking from Mountain Dell Consulting, securitized 1031 exchange programs raised approximately $8.4 billion in 2025 — up roughly 49% from the prior year, and the strongest fundraising environment since the 2022 peak.

What drove the rebound

Several forces converged. Transaction volume in commercial real estate recovered as interest-rate expectations stabilized, giving property owners more confidence to sell — and every sale of appreciated investment property creates a potential 1031 exchanger. Demographics continued doing their quiet work: an enormous cohort of landlords in their 60s and 70s is ready to stop managing property but unwilling to hand a third or more of their equity to taxes. And sponsor supply expanded, with dozens of sponsors bringing new programs to market across multifamily, industrial, self-storage, healthcare, and net-lease sectors.

What it means for 1031 investors

More selection, faster subscription. A deeper bench of open offerings means exchangers have real choices across sectors and sponsors — useful when the 45-day identification window compresses decision-making. Popular programs, however, can fill quickly; investors who wait until day 40 to begin diligence often find their preferred offering fully subscribed.

More new entrants to underwrite. Strong fundraising years attract new sponsors, some with thin track records in the DST structure specifically. Sponsor experience through full market cycles — including how prior programs performed for investors, not just how quickly they raised capital — remains the single most important variable we underwrite.

Discipline matters more in up markets, not less. When capital flows freely, offerings get done at tighter pricing and more aggressive assumptions. The fundamentals still decide outcomes: basis relative to replacement cost, realistic rent growth assumptions, conservative debt, and honest exit math.

The honest caveats

Fundraising statistics measure capital raised — they say nothing about the returns investors will ultimately realize. DSTs remain illiquid, long-hold private placements; distributions are not guaranteed; and program-level fees meaningfully affect investor outcomes. A rebounding market is a reasonable environment in which to evaluate DSTs. It is not a reason to skip the evaluation.

If you are weighing an exchange in 2026, we are glad to walk through what the current offering landscape actually looks like — the strong programs and the ones we passed on — and how it maps to your situation.