[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Inexperienced investors avoid "like the plague" any industry sector that is down, as the global real estate markets currently are.  But shrewd investors, like Goldman Sachs, grab at the opportunity to catch a market sector, of a sub-section of that market, that looks primed for recovery.  Situations like this illustrate why Goldman has always excelled at making money - and likely always will. Goldman Sachs' private equity arm reportedly is planning to create a $3 billion property debt fund in order to take advantage of a growing shortage of real estate financing across the U.K. and Europe.  The fund would provide senior and mezzanine loans to property investors, to target property lending that is riskier but which would offer higher potential returns, the newspaper said without citing sources. Europe's Debt Market. Real Estate Principal Investment Area (REPIA) would create a fund structure and make up similar to another $2.6 billion property debt fund that was set up in 2009 to target U.S. property investors.  Across the pond, REIPA's new fund would look at Europe's widening debt funding gap, the shortfall between debt needing refinancing, and the money available do so.  The shortage is being caused by the increasing number of banks that are slashing how much they are willing to lend to the sector in a bid to comply with incoming solvency regulations. Others Follow Goldman. Non-bank financiers that have recently launched funds targeting the financing gap include the property units of insurers Prudential Financial and AXA Group, while fund manager BlackRock said it was considering making a foray into real estate debt.  To date, there is about €960 billion ($1.3 trillion) of outstanding debt secured across Europe, of which 575 billion must be repaid within the next 3 years, according to property consultancy CBRE Group. Is real estate the new 'black gold'? For further details, go to [CNBC, 4/2/12].