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Data center demand continues to outpace supply; however, it is constraint, with power shortages now dictating the pace and location of development, according to Principal Asset Management. Despite concerns about a potential AI-driven bubble, demand remains structurally strong, supported by long-term digital adoption trends and limited near-term supply.

For decades, institutional allocators have debated whether private market real estate justifies its fee structure relative to public real estate securities. The comparison typically begins with headline numbers: Private funds charging management fees of 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent, plus performance-based carried interest, versus public REIT mutual funds and ETFs charging 20 basis points to 60 basis points.

CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI) has secured the investment mandate to manage Income Insurance Limited’s direct real estate portfolio.

Chatham Financial has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Hodes Weill & Associates.

Castlelake has acquired a majority ownership stake in Resfin Partners, which owns and operates Eastview, a U.S. mortgage correspondent business, and Lendmarq, an established lender to the U.S. residential investment community.

According to Savills’ latest research, Southern Europe is expected to expand faster than the EU average, supporting real estate occupier demand and investor sentiment. For 2026, Oxford Economics forecasts GDP growth of 2.4 percent for Spain, 2.1 percent for Portugal and 1.8 percent for Greece, compared with an average of 1.0 percent for the EU-27.

Prime Group Holdings has deployed edge data centers and battery energy storage systems across numerous properties within its existing nationwide portfolio.

ESR has entered into an agreement with two leading domestic insurance groups to establish a dedicated RMB income fund with a total investment capacity of RMB 1.6 billion ($0.22 billion), further advancing the company’s capital recycling strategy and long-term growth positioning in China.

BlackRock Real Estate, through funds and accounts managed for its clients, and Kauri CAB Digital Infrastructure GmbH.

Newmark has arranged an $830 million portfolio financing on behalf of RHP Properties and an institutional capital partner for the acquisition and refinancing of a 36-asset manufactured housing portfolio.

Cortland has appointed Sam Scherer as director of client relations and capital markets

Principal Asset Management has completed its third acquisition in the U.S. for its SCPI Principal Inside, continuing the deployment of the fund’s transatlantic real estate investment strategy.

CanTex Capital, a Dallas-based industrial real estate investment firm specializing in infill industrial assets, has acquired four properties in the Brookhollow submarket totaling 47,465 square feet across nine acres.

A new hospitality outlook from Marcus & Millichap indicates that the sector is entering a more complex phase in 2026, as growth moderates following a strong post-pandemic recovery.

M&A activity involving U.S. publicly traded equity real estate investment trusts continued to accelerate in early 2026, with four major deals totaling $16.77 billion announced through April 15, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Institutional investors are placing greater emphasis on partnering with operating platforms, shifting away from transactional dealmaking toward programmatic, long-term relationships. That evolution is driving an increase in recapitalizations across institutional real estate, as capital flows into platforms rather than individual assets. Jesse Shannon, president and CIO, Branch Properties, explains the drivers behind this shift, how recap structures are enabling it and why operators have become central to execution in the grocery-anchored retail sector.

In a sponsored interview published in the May issue of Institutional Real Estate Americas, Denis Curran, COO, partner, portfolio manager of Ascentris, discusses the Cradle-to-Grave staffing model and how it is a well-established framework within the traditional private equity asset class.

The recovery in European commercial real estate is likely to slow as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East halt the expected decline in interest rates, according to Moody’s Ratings.

The CRE Finance Council (CREFC), the trade association for the commercial real estate finance industry, has released its First Quarter 2026 Board of Governors (BOG) Sentiment Index survey results.

Gilbane Development has appointed Andreas Vlahakis as head of capital markets based out of the firm’s New York City office.