Global capital pivots to EMEA for real estate recovery

According to Colliers' latest Global Capital Flows (FY-2025) research, global real estate investment is shifting back towards Europe, with the EMEA region becoming the primary focus for investors. 

Luke Dawson and Damian Harrington

After two years of cautious, US-centric investment, 2025 marked a significant change. Capital raised for EMEA-focused real estate strategies soared 52% year-on-year, indicating strong confidence ahead of a more robust transaction environment in 2026.
While EMEA investment volumes increased by 8.6% in 2025, capital is being raised faster than transactions are occurring, signalling renewed liquidity and repricing across key European markets. EMEA continues to lead global cross-border real estate capital, with seven of the top ten destination markets worldwide. This indicates that investors are targeting markets where prices have adjusted, income stability is clearer, and execution risks are decreasing.
Momentum grew in the latter half of 2025, particularly in Q4, as differences between buyer and seller expectations narrowed and financing conditions stabilised across much of Europe. A clear regional difference is seen in the office sector; while it faces structural challenges in parts of North America, offices have been EMEA's strongest performing sector over the past 24 months, surpassing industrial and multifamily properties.
Investment is concentrating on prime, well-located assets in major European cities, especially those with credible sustainability and retrofit plans, and in markets where occupational demand is stabilizing. This trend is supporting refurbishment activities and improving liquidity in locations with limited supply.
The UK remains the top global destination for cross-border capital due to its market depth, transparency, and scale. France and Sweden saw notable gains in 2025, attracting a larger share of global capital as pricing and execution confidence improved. Core markets like Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands are still on investors' radar, but deployment has been more cautious, awaiting clearer signals on yield stabilisation and debt pricing.
Beyond traditional sectors, data centres are now the biggest focus for global real estate fundraising, driven by demand for AI and digital infrastructure exposure. While the US still leads in deployment, increasing EMEA fundraising points to growing, development-driven opportunities in select European markets.
Concurrently, the resurgence of opportunistic and debt strategies is facilitating transactions where conventional equity has struggled to bridge pricing gaps. With capital flowing back faster than deals can absorb it, EMEA is transitioning from recovery to reallocation, setting the stage for a more active and selective market through 2026.
Luke Dawson, head of Global and EMEA Capital Markets at Colliers, said: “This is not a return to pre-2022 behaviour. Capital is coming back into EMEA with greater discipline. Investors are underwriting income first, growth second and liquidity third – and Europe is starting to tick all three boxes again.”
Damian Harrington, head of Research, Global Capital Markets and EMEA at Colliers, added: “Improving yield spreads are creating opportunity, but it remains uneven and highly asset-specific. Those that understand where income, debt and pricing align will move first – and capture the upside.”