CBRE: Investors Intend to Buy, Sell More CRE Assets in 2026 Than Last Year

(View of commerical buildings in Chicago via Nachelle Nocom/pexels.com)

CBRE, Dallas, reported that investors from around the world plan to buy and sell more commercial real estate assets this year than last year.

The majority of this activity is expected to happen in North America, CBRE said in its 2026 Global Investor Intentions Survey.

The firm surveyed more than 1,400 investors across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America to examine how their sentiments, strategies and capital allocations are evolving.

“Residential assets are most sought after in North America and Europe, while Asia-Pacific investors prefer office assets and Latin American investors favor logistics facilities,” the report said. “Value-add and core strategies were the most preferred globally.”

Expected tailwinds for property markets include reduced new supply pipelines in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

“Lower debt costs than a year ago are also seen as a key tailwind across regions,” the report said. “As of the end of Q1 2026, CBRE expects the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank to cut interest rates one time in the year’s second half, supporting investment activity. We believe that the rate-cutting cycle has largely concluded in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Competition among lenders has led to lower margins for new loans on prime real estate.”

Attractive price entry points are also identified as an important tailwind for investment in North America and Europe this year, the report said. “This reflects significant repricing across sectors over the past few years.”

Perceived headwinds range from macroeconomic challenges to transaction-specific obstacles. “In North America, key challenges revolve around the macroeconomic outlook. Softening labor markets, elevated long-term rates and weakening property fundamentals were selected most often as the top concerns,” CBRE said. “European investors still see a mismatch in pricing expectations as the main challenge for real estate investment, though higher long-term interest rates are also a key concern.”

The Middle East conflict has increased risks to the global economy. “Nevertheless, we believe that the global economic expansion will not be derailed by rising oil prices, barring a significant escalation of the hostilities,” the report said. (CBRE noted the survey was conducted in fourth-quarter 2025, so it does not reflect changes in investor sentiment since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict.)