Hines Global Investment 2026 - Cleared for Takeoff: A New Flight Path for Real Estate
Please take a few minutes to review Hines’ Strategic Priorities for the Year Ahead
This is a well-rounded intrepretation of Hines’ insights, and well worth the read!
As the recovery continues to take shape in the months ahead, we’re excited about the opportunities forming on the horizon to put fresh capital to work. My colleague Joshua Scoville, who heads our global research team, will dissect this landscape in more detail across asset classes and geographies, but from a bird’s eye view, our priority sectors and high-conviction themes for the year ahead include:
Living: Data from Hines Research shows that, particularly in developed economies, around 80% of households showed momentum for renting over buying in the face of a global housing shortage and affordability crisis.1 This underscores our belief that the global living sector will continue to be a strong play in 2026.
Industrial: Our recent research also discovered that new corridors of demand have formed. Changes in trade policy have fueled a rise in intra-regional trade as inter-regional (i.e., global) trade continued to downshift in the face of ongoing deglobalization. Meanwhile, the industrial sector (particularly warehouses) appears to be converging into other property types, such as retail and data centers, setting the stage for future growth.2
Retail: Generally speaking, the global retail sector has "rightsized." For example, across the four major property types in NCREIF, the U.S. retail sector ranked first in total returns in each of the past 11 quarters through Q3 2025.3 However, tariffs have made the outlook for retail less certain as consumers pull back and supply chains adjust.
U.S. Office Credit: There are regional variances to consider, but dislocation in the U.S. office capital markets has created opportunities across the capital stack—including equity—that we’re closely tracking and acting upon.4
Alternative Sectors: No 2026 Outlook is complete without mentioning the meteoric rise of AI and the data centers behind it. We’re especially interested in the powered land opportunity in this quickly evolving landscape. Hines Research estimates that 40,000 acres of powered land—almost 2 billion square feet—will be needed to support current projections for data center growth over the next five years. Europe’s less saturated market seems especially poised for growth.5 Meanwhile, Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) in Europe is also a key area of focus.
https://www.hines.com/2026-global-investment-outlook?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Organic+Social&utm_campaign=HinesightGlobalInvestmentOutlook26&utm_id=HinesightGlobalInvestmentOutlook26_Organic_EmployeeAdvocacy_Institutional_Video_Jan26_Global_Investment
