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Novogradac Reports Continued Decline in Qualified OZ Investments

Novogradac announced that qualified opportunity funds raised less than $700 million in new equity during the first quarter of 2023, the lowest such total since Novogradac began releasing quarterly updates for investment in 2021 and the smallest amount for any multi-month period since the beginning of Novogradac began issuing qualified opportunity fund reports in 2019.

As reported by The DI Wire in February 2023, overall investment in qualified opportunity funds tracked by the national accounting and consulting firm reached $34.09 billion at the end of 2022, with a single-year record $9.68 billion of that being reported in the preceding 12 months.

Novogradac reports that the increase of $681.9 million compares to $3.97 billion raised in the first quarter of 2022 and $1.40 billion raised in the final quarter of 2022. It marked the third consecutive quarter with declines over the previous quarter in investment among qualified opportunity funds tracked by Novogradac.

Novogradac covers a broad amount of opportunity zones compared to Robert A. Stanger & Co., who reported in March 2023 that fundraising for securitized opportunity zone fund offerings tracked by investment banks totaled just $76.4 million through the first two months of 2023.

Both studies demonstrate that capital flow into opportunity zone funds was significantly lower during the early months of 2023.

The 1,692 qualified opportunity funds tracked by Novogradac, 1,298 of which reported a specific equity amount raised, have raised $34.77 billion in more than five years since the dawn of the opportunity zones incentive. The median amount raised by qualified opportunity funds on Novogradac’s list that reported an equity amount as of March 31, 2023, was $4.6 million.

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