(FORTUNE Magazine) – Never mind that the outlook for commercial real estate is unexciting for now. Mutual fund companies have moved in, offering investors limited partnerships, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and real estate mutual funds. Though few of the offerings have a track record, investor interest is running high. ''People are diversifying into real estate now because they know the stock market isn't going to go up forever,'' says Reid Samuelson, president of T. Rowe Price's real estate operation. ''They are buying from mutual fund companies because they want to go with a name they trust.'' Low fees are part of the appeal. Though sales charges and other commissions are steep to anyone accustomed to a no-load stock fund, they are small compared with the typical limited partnership sold through a brokerage firm. T. Rowe Price Income Fund III, recently marketed directly to investors, is no longer for sale, but a Fund IV will be offered in 1988. Like its predecessor, it will invest in light-industrial and office properties in strong real estate markets. Late this spring investors oversubscribed Vanguard Real Estate Fund I, a $115-million REIT. It will operate for seven to 12 years and then sell off its portfolio of properties at a hoped-for profit. Investors who missed the offering have to wait until 1989, when shares begin to trade on a stock exchange or over the counter. They will also be able to invest in Fund II, which Vanguard plans to offer early next year. Aldrich Eastman & Waltch, a real estate investment firm in Boston that manages over $2 billion of institutional money, will run Vanguard's real estate investments. One of the firm's older portfolios has had an average annual return of 14.8% over four years -- not bad in a depressed market. Aldrich Eastman has selected a shopping center in Torrance, California, as the first property in which Vanguard Fund I will invest. Two other companies have joined the game with sector funds that specialize in real estate stocks. National Securities & Research Corp. of New York began to sell shares of its open-ended mutual fund, National Real Estate Stock Fund, in 1985. So far in 1987, it has scored an 8.5% total return. The fund buys shares of developers, REITs, hotels, even savings and loan institutions. Holdings include Federal Realty, Western Investment, and Weingarten Realty -- all REITs -- as well as two builders of retirement homes, Del E. Webb and Forum Group. Fidelity Real Estate Investment Portfolio, which Boston's big Fidelity Investments group launched last November, is also highly diversified. Even when dividends are included, the fund has crept ahead only 3.7% in 1987. The largest holdings are REIT stocks: First Union Real Estate Equity and Mortgage Investments, Meditrust, and Federal Realty.

CHART: FUND ASSETS FEES PRINCIPAL in INVESTMENTS millions

Vanguard Real Estate $115 6.2% front-end costs; 1.2% Shopping centers, Fund I annual management fee; industrial and Valley Forge, Pa. up to 15% of capital gains office buildings on property sales; 2% fee on these sales

Fidelity Real Estate $90 2% sales charge; Stocks of REITs Investment Portfolio annual management and developers Boston fee averaging 1.2%

T. Rowe Price Realty $64 10% front-end costs; .65% Shopping centers, Income Fund III annual management fee; 10% industrial and Baltimore of rental income; up to office buildings 15% of capital gains on property sales

National Real Estate $22 7.75% sales charge; Stocks of REITs Stock Fund 1.5% annual manage- and developers New York City ment fee

CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: Four Funds in the Brick-and-Mortar Game Two of these funds -- those run by Vanguard and T. Rowe Price -- are no longer for sale but will be followed by similar offerings next year. The other two trade on exchanges like conventional funds. DESCRIPTION: Financial data for several real estate mutual funds.