Global transaction activity is being “delayed rather than destroyed” by the Iran conflict, says Savills.
Global real estate investment turnover of $230 billion (€198 billion) in the first quarter of 2026 represented a 5 percent decline compared with the final quarter of 2025, says the advisory firm in its latest Quarterly Capital Markets report. However, should there be a deescalation of events in the Middle East, Savills expects a rebound in dealmaking. It says pending deals data shows a 18 percent year-over-year rise in deal negotiations in the second quarter of 2026. If this theoretical scenario should transpire, then it will mirror the pattern that followed the ‘Liberation Day’ tariff shock of 2025, when transactional weakness in the first six months of 2025 was replaced by strength in the second half of the year.
Savills says that regionally first quarter performance has been asymmetric. In the United States, commercial real estate rebounded sha
