For decades, real estate investment revolved around the core four: office, industrial, retail and multifamily. Everything else — no matter how big or operationally complex — was lumped into the “niche” bucket. That line is now blurring.

Data centers have become one of the most capital-intensive areas of real estate, attracting significant institutional investment. Yet not all investors are approaching the sector the same way. While demand for computing infrastructure remains strong and development activity continues to expand, the asset class presents structural challenges for core, open-end real estate strategies focused on stable income and long-term value preservation.

The multifamily market is being reassessed through an acquisitions lens as price discovery continues to evolve. After a prolonged period of stalled transaction activity and wide bid-ask spreads, conditions are becoming clearer. Interest rates are stabilizing, liquidity is gradually returning, and transaction volume has begun to recover — allowing pricing signals to reemerge and enabling investors to engage more constructively.

Student housing has historically proven to be a resilient and attractive real estate strategy, providing strong demand drivers, portfolio diversification benefits and steady returns amid challenging macroeconomic conditions.

While hospitality as a product and experience is always evolving to meet consumer needs, the fundamentals are constant. Properties that perform over the long run price dynamically in response to demand, manage margins with discipline, maintain standards guests can rely on, and plug into distribution systems that reliably capture travel spending. These principles apply whether the lodging product is a traditional hotel or something more unconventional.

Over the past several decades, the U.S. commercial real estate credit market has undergone significant transformation. Beginning in the mid-1990s, lending activity began shifting away from bank-dominated balance sheets toward capital markets distribution. That migration accelerated after the global financial crisis, giving rise to a new era of private credit-led bridge lending, much of it financed through commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations (CRE CLOs).

Municipal bonds have long played an essential role in addressing America’s housing affordability crisis. As housing costs strain household budgets nationwide, municipal housing bonds offer investors attractive tax-exempt yields while providing communities the low-cost capital needed to expand affordable housing across all income levels.

Standard Real Estate Investments has expanded its strategic partnership with Belay Investment Group. The venture will target middle-market, value-added multifamily investment opportunities in the Midwest with a commitment of $50 million through a programmatic joint venture.

Prologis and GIC have formed a $1.6 billion joint venture to develop and own build-to-suit logistics facilities across major U.S. markets.

GTIS Partners and Hovnanian Enterprises have closed a $200 million joint venture to develop, construct and sell homes across a diversified portfolio of for-sale home-building communities.

The biggest cultural barriers to artificial intelligence (AI) adoption within real estate firms are often seen across investment teams, asset management and executive leadership, according to Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise and co-founder of RealAI. Younger professionals immediately recognize the value, while older professionals often view AI as theoretical.

Leasing activity in first quarter 2026 reflected continued occupier demand for high-quality office space, with total volume reaching 8.5 million square feet and net absorption of 1.5 million square feet, according to JLL’s April market snapshot.

The commercial real estate lending market is entering an origination-focused phase as liquidity improves and investor confidence returns, according to Dean Dulchinos, group head of real estate debt at ORIX USA, in an exclusive interview with IREI.

Apollo-managed funds and affiliates have provided a $1 billion investment to Realty Income Corp. to acquire a 49 percent interest in a new joint venture entity that is expected to own a diversified portfolio of single-tenant retail properties subject to long-term net leases.

BGO and Bell Partners have entered into an agreement to combine their businesses to deepen their posi-tion as a leader across both the commercial and multifamily sectors, following Sun Life Financial’s recent acquisition of Bell Partners.

A group of large LPs and consultants has developed an investor-led real estate data model called the Real Estate Data Initiative (REDI) to address long-standing challenges with inconsistent, fragmented and largely PDF-based reporting from GPs. The initiative aims to provide a common data model, delivered as an Excel-based template, that standardizes core fund-, asset- and portfolio-level data fields used by most global real estate investors professionals often view AI as theoretical.

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, where a firm’s investment teams routinely assume full lifecycle responsibility for an investment from origination through sale.

According to Clarion Partners, the industrial, healthcare and housing sectors, which are being driven by demographics and innovation, are positioned to outperform in 2026. Capital remains anchored in high-conviction sectors but is beginning to extend into more differentiated market areas.

In a sponsored report published in the May issue of Institutional Real Estate Americas, Teresa Zien, managing director and portfolio manager at Invesco Real Estate, discusses the state of the real estate credit market, how and why banks are strengthening the alternative lending ecosystem, and the appeal of Invesco’s credit strategy and full-cycle commitment to investors.

In a sponsored report published in the May issue of Institutional Real Estate Americas, CIM Group shows how the dislocation in office credit has now given rise to a historical opportunity to generate risk-adjusted returns, highlighting senior first mortgage loans and the advantages of CIM’s experienced boots on the ground as the means to grasp that opportunity.

In a sponsored report published in the May issue of Institutional Real Estate Americas, Jeff Bingham and Jim Breen — the former a managing director and co-head of Heitman’s Global Investment Research Team, and the latter an assistant vice president and member of that team — argue that the real estate market has entered the early stages of a promising recovery, making their case with a clear overview of encouraging data trends.

In a sponsored interview published in the May issue of Institutional Real Estate Americas, Cherine Aboulzelof, managing partner and global co-head of BGO Strategic Capital Partners, illustrates how collaboration and adaptability are cornerstones of SCP's success in the secondaries market, as well as her own career and leadership style.