Special real estate funds in Germany represent more than EUR 16 billion assets in real estate. Investors, investment companies and the public domain did not yet have any access to performance data of the special real estate funds. The paper intends to close this gap and provides a thorough comparative analysis of all special real estate fund performance in Germany. Thereby the transparency of this important real estate segment is increased. All special real estate funds were included that existed for the 2001-2003 period analysed. The paper examines the typical construction of special real estate funds, sets out the relevant performance measures and reviews the special real estate funds industry. The core of the paper is the unique analysis of an extensive database. All the relevant information about the special real estate funds was collected from the Federal Bulletin (Bundesanzeiger) and transferred into a database. Based on standardized methods an adjusted performance measurement was carried out.