As 2025 comes to an end, thoughts are turning to the year ahead. Some of the industry’s leading lights dust off their crystal balls and make their predictions for 2026.

The commercial real estate landscape is experiencing a subtle shift, with institutional investors and private equity firms increasingly viewing hotels as a prime investment opportunity.

In the last 15 years, retail real estate experienced a fall from grace. Once the prince of the property industry, the sector became the pauper. Now, however, there are very real signs that retail is back, if not with a vengeance then with considerable energy.

German real estate investor and asset manager Sonar Real Estate is adapting to a slow market by diversifying asset classes, not leaving their core sector office but shifting focus also to more popular sectors like residential and logistics.

In an exclusive interview with CRE Media Europe, PATRIZIA CEO Asoka Wöhrmann sets out his vision for the company - and how global mega-trends are already disrupting real estate.

After years of either fully remote or hybrid working, evidence is mounting that European workers are returning to their offices

European private real estate is entering a distinct new phase. For years, many global investors, particularly those based in North America, prioritised their domestic markets over opportunities across continental Europe and the United Kingdom.

European private real estate is entering a distinct new phase. For years, many global investors, particularly those based in North America, prioritised their domestic markets over opportunities across continental Europe and the United Kingdom.

The move to ban upward only rent reviews in the UK may have come out of the blue, but the reality is the industry now has to look beyond traditional methods for leasing and valuing commercial space.

In 2025, asset management in Germany is at a critical juncture. Widening disparities across asset types, a renewed emphasis on disciplined portfolio management and a growing focus on active value creation through refurbishments and repurposing define the new reality.

As demonstrated by our fundraise for Crossbay II, one of the largest private real estate vehicles to have closed globally last year, investor appetite for European urban logistics was on the rise following a sharp correction in values after the COVID-era boom.

Madlen Fiedler, head of ESG and corporate services at SICORE Real Assets, talks about her career in sustainability - and offers a few tips for the next generation

Both in spite and because of sustained macro uncertainty, European logistics remains in favour at this point in the cycle.

Seemingly every day, another big corporate announces they are tightening their work-from-office mandates: Amazon, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are all recent examples. Despite this, many employees still value a level of hybrid working and being able to work however they want at their workplace.

Whenever international investors talk about Germany, they tend to touch upon the safety aspect. What they have in mind is the country’s stable legal system combined with a reliable infrastructure and a diversified economy. But in addition to these well-known locational advantages, Germany offers another opportunity that has been more or less ignored so far: the systematic redevelopment of its existing office stock.

While the initial panic has receded and markets are pricing out potential bad news, tariff uncertainty is not going away and will hit the global economy. Some capital expenditure and hiring plans could be postponed, thus weighing negatively on demand for logistics.

Following a disappointing 2024 on some metrics, logistics occupiers, investors and developers are now significantly more optimistic about their fortunes in the years ahead, albeit that optimism is tempered by geopolitical disruption, not least in as a result of tariff uncertainty.

In his time at Blackstone, Louis-Simon Ferland found great success with his work on Logicor, something that laid the foundations for the launch of his own company. While never having set out to work in logistics, he tells CRE Media Europe why Boreal is uniquely placed to take advantage of the sector’s undoubted tailwinds

Swiss Life Asset Managers’ managing partner, logistics, caught up with CRE Media Europe on how he got into the industry, the company’s approach sustainability and more.

Within real estate, ‘wait and see mode’ has been a preferred term of the last few years. The geopolitical landscape and a lack of market visibility have meant investors have exercised caution - and been even more selective - when it comes to the allocation or reallocation of capital. Risk management is key, balancing pressure to deploy with macro challenges.

Listed real estate companies have still a way to go to become more professional and investible, according to Harm Meijer, co-founder of fund manager ICAMAP, and author of Real Estate Rules, a book on the sector.

As the US is pulling out of the Paris Agreement we are seeing sustainable capital being diverted from the US and moving to Europe.