Carlyle Group LP, the world's second-biggest manager of alternative assets, is seeking to raise $4 billion for its seventh real estate fund, said a person with knowledge of the plans.

The new fund would be the firm's largest ever for property investments, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the fundraising isn't public. The Washington-based company raised $2.3 billion for its current fund following the credit crisis.

Carlyle is seeking to capitalize on demand for real estate as 10-year Treasury bonds hover around a 2.2 percent yield. Earlier this month, the firm said it agreed to sell 650 Madison Ave., a 600,000-square-foot (55,700-square-meter) office tower in Manhattan's Plaza district, for $1.3 billion, setting a per-square-foot record for a U.S. office building.

Carlyle joins TPG Capital and KKR & Co. in seeking more capital for real estate. Lone Star Funds, the Dallas-based investor in delinquent mortgages and other property assets, in May finished raising $5 billion for a new residential fund, and plans to begin raising a new fund for commercial assets. Blackstone Group LP last year collected $13.3 billion of pledges for the biggest-ever private real estate fund.

Randall Whitestone, a Carlyle spokesman, didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on the fund.

The plans for the new fund were reported earlier Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.