Experiential retail was all the rage heading into 2020. As the retail sector continues to gain momentum in its recovery, are consumers and landlords ready to pick up where they left off prior to the COVID-19 pandemic?

It is not surprising a global pandemic would reshape society and the economy, creating upheaval in the world as we knew it. But with mass vaccination and a return to a more familiar environment, the questions for real estate investors are: What is the new normal? What has changed since COVID-19 swept the globe, and what remains the same?

In this time of acute change in how people use property, some investment managers are viewing the real estate landscape less in terms of which sectors are performing well, and more in terms of property trends within subsectors and submarkets.

The COVID-19 crisis has thrown office investors and occupiers a curveball scarcely contemplated before 2020.

Rainer Nonnengässer, executive chairman at International Campus Group, says that purpose-built student accommodation remains a safe and resilient asset class with plenty of growth upside in Central Europe.

Post-pandemic U.K. regulations are leaving landlords with nowhere to turn, warns Katherine Campbell, head of real estate disputes at law firm Reed Smith.

Climate change potentially poses physical risk to real estate assets, but the changes in the regulatory environment, as it ramps up efforts to mitigate climate change, also could make some assets less desirable by the time investors are ready to exit.

Successful global real estate strategies require market intelligence based on data — and lots of it — to reveal which cities will attract residents and investors as “living cities.”

Currently, Asian real estate investors are finely attuned to their risk tolerances for the next few years. The post-pandemic environment will be different, but we know not to what extent.

The number of higher-income Millennials who are renting instead of buying a home is on the rise, according to RentCafe.

Elandis has acquired Hudson & Crosby at Westchase, two multifamily communities with a combined 569 residential units in Houston. 

Owner-managed Capital Bay Group is strengthening its business activities in the Asia-Pacific region by appointing Hongfei Chen to director business development Asia.

Aviva Investors has partnered with Packaged Living, a U.K. build-to-rent (BtR) developer, to create a £500 million (€595 million, $667 million) single-family rental platform of suburban homes across the United Kingdom. 

The Phoenix office of Seefried Industrial Properties, with capital partner USAA Real Estate, announced that construction has begun on a new warehouse and distribution center.

Global institutional investors have significantly raised their ambitions to implement net-zero commitments across portfolios over the last 12 months.