The introduction of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) is a result of the financial crisis of 2008 and one of the first concrete measures of the European Commission in order to prevent a new crisis of this scale. After the fall of Lehman Brothers, often described as being “too big to fail” the decision was made to increase supervision, focussed on fund managers of alternative investment funds, real estate funds included. This graduation thesis describes the impact of AIFMD on real estate fund managers and the potential effects on the real estate investment market. Through the use of a cost-impact survey on fund managers and by conducting interviews with institutional investors, the main research question has been answered. This report argues that, in general, the cost impact for large, institutional real estate fund managers is not significant. However, smaller, private real estate fund managers do suffer a significant cost impact. This probably has far-reaching consequences for the real estate investment market. The report also presents the expected transparency benefits for the real estate investment market, caused by AIFMD. Short-term, private investors are expected to benefit the most in terms of transparency. On the long-term, the real estate sector as a whole may benefit from an improved image and more trust.