Research Reports

CRE is a tangible asset class that balances income, growth, and risk mitigation and should be a core pillar of both institutional and private portfolios.

This North American House View publication is produced each year and serves two essential purposes. First, it highlights our outlook for the North American economy and the commercial real estate (CRE) sector. Secondly, it presents our strategic focus areas and approach to capture the opportunities presented in the current environment.

Private real estate debt is a compelling complement to middle market direct lending. The combination delivers diversified collateral, resilient income, and improved risk-adjusted outcomes through cycles. With bank dislocation and refinancing needs creating durable deal flow, investors can use disciplined, senior-oriented real estate credit alongside direct lending to build portfolios that are both productive and resilient. The takeaway is clear: pair them.

Self-storage has been a top-performing asset class for nearly two decades, driven by its unique operating model and resilient demand characteristics. This report explores the macroeconomic landscape and favorable demographic trends shaping the future of the self-storage sector. It also provides a detailed analysis of market fundamentals and the outlook ahead – all of which we see pointing to continued momentum for the sector. Despite a challenging two-year period marked by a sector-wide retracement following significant pandemic-era gains, evidence is presented supporting a renewed sense of optimism and the potential return of long-term growth.

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.

The resumption of the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle has prompted many private markets investors to evaluate how a lower-rate regime shapes opportunities and risks across commercial real estate (CRE), private infrastructure debt, investment-grade private credit, and middle market direct lending. Across these segments, one message is consistent: while interest-rate environments influence activity and pricing, private markets create value through fundamentals, structure, and long-term discipline. Those attributes combine to make private credit and debt strategies historically resilient across rate cycles.

European retail real estate is showing signs of recovery after several years of repricing. This report points to improving investor sentiment, stabilizing fundamentals and a more supportive macroeconomic environment across the sector. Retail has seen the largest improvement in manager sentiment among the four core real estate sectors over the past three years, reflecting a shift in investor outlook after a prolonged period of uncertainty.

Private commercial real estate (CRE) debt delivered strong performance in 2025 and maintains favorable positioning heading into 2026. With loan originations surging, lending standards remaining conservative, and property valuations having stabilized after meaningful resets, we believe private CRE debt offers compelling risk-adjusted returns in today's environment while volatility-adjusted returns are under-appreciated. In fact, private CRE debt demonstrates compelling attributes across all four quadrants (public versus private and equity versus debt) in 2026. Although increased competition has compressed spreads, we continue to see ample opportunity to originate attractive loans in the year ahead. Find out why.

The UK rental market faces mounting pressure from both financial and demographic forces. In London, renters spend up to 43% of gross income on rent, deepening dependency. Rising single-person households and ageing demographics intensify demand. Yet supply lags, only 5% of listings are affordable to low-income renters. Regulatory changes, soaring build costs, and investor disincentives further squeeze development. While private landlords retreat, institutional investors may fill the gap, leveraging scale and public sector alignment to deliver affordable housing. The market is under strain, raising urgent questions about how supply and investment will respond.

CRE is a tangible asset class that balances income, growth, and risk mitigation and should be a core pillar of both institutional and private portfolios. Real estate offers important diversification benefits across a multi-asset portfolio and within the real estate sector itself. Core real estate delivers stability, visibility, and opportunities to unlock growth. Greater rate clarity and more manageable financing costs are increasing investor confidence and efficiency, reigniting the capital markets.