Intelligent Investment
2026 North American Investor Intentions Survey
January 29, 2026 3 Minute Read
Executive Summary
- Seventy-four percent of commercial real estate investors surveyed by CBRE plan to buy more assets in 2026 than they did last year.
- The biggest challenge for investors is the combination of an uncertain economic outlook and a weakening labor market.
- Dallas remained the most attractive market for U.S. investors, followed by Atlanta and San Francisco. All gateway markets were among the top 20 for investment.
- Among Canadian investors, Toronto ranked as the most attractive market, followed by Vancouver and Calgary. In the U.S., Canadian investors favored New York and Miami-South Florida.
- While multifamily and industrial & logistics remained the most-preferred sectors, retail and office gained favor. Overall, pricing expectations have stabilized across all property types.
- Most investors said they will tolerate short-term negative leverage, reflecting improving market fundamentals from strong rents at renewal and cheaper future financing.
Investor Sentiment
CBRE’s 2026 North American Investor Intentions Survey generally found that investor optimism this year is tempered by several potential risks. The combination of an uncertain economic outlook and a weakening labor market was the biggest challenge cited by both U.S. and Canadian investors. The second biggest concern was elevated long-term interest rates for U.S. investors and trade policy for Canadians. A reduced supply pipeline, lower debt costs and attractive price entry points were cited as major tailwinds by investors from both countries.
CBRE expects that although the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield will remain around 4% in 2026, overall commercial real estate investment volume will increase by 16%.
Seventy-four percent of investors plan to buy more commercial real estate assets than they did last year, while just under 50% plan to sell more. This dynamic will likely create more competition for assets and allow pricing to firm even as rates remain somewhat elevated.
All of this will be supported by additional capital, with 97% of investors either maintaining or increasing their allocations to real estate. A slight majority of investors cited stabilizing interest rates or a potential decrease in debt costs as a reason to increase allocations.
Figure 1: Investor Buying Intentions
Top Markets
Dallas and Atlanta are the two most attractive markets for the U.S. investors this year. Dallas has held the top spot for five consecutive years. While some Sun Belt markets are oversupplied, those with robust job growth and balanced supply/demand-supply dynamics like Charlotte and Nashville remain particularly attractive (ranked 5th and 7th, respectively).
Investors are also actively pursuing gateway market opportunities due to improving fundamentals and pricing. While all gateways are among the top 20 most attractive markets for investors, New York City and San Francisco remained in the top 10 due to solid fundamentals. Seattle and Chicago rose in rank, benefiting from better pricing and diverse economies.
Overall, investors are seeking discount opportunities in gateway markets, while maintaining a belief in the Sun Belt’s growth prospects.
Figure 2: Top 10 Most Attractive Markets for Investment
** Including Northern New Jersey.
*** Including Inland Empire & Orange County
Source: North American Investor Intentions Survey, CBRE Research, January 2026.
Strategies & Property Types
Value-add and core-plus were the preferred strategies for just under two-thirds of investors. Limited new supply makes value-add assets attractive, while core-plus assets remain appealing for income potential and balanced risk/return. Less interest in opportunistic strategies suggests that repricing is largely complete. Distressed and debt strategies saw declines from the previous year, while core improved slightly. All of this indicates that investors are modifying their strategies as the cycle progresses.
U.S. investors continue to prefer multifamily assets by a wide margin, with 74% targeting the property type vs. 37% targeting industrial & logistics assets. Retail is the third most favored property type (27%), followed by office assets at 16%.
Canadian investors have a strong preference for industrial & logistics (59%) and retail (56%) assets.
Pricing expectations have stabilized across all property types, with investors now willing to bid more for office and retail assets. Class A stabilized office and grocery-anchored and high-street retail assets are particularly attractive due to improved demand and lower pricing.
Data centers continued to gain favor, although power availability and pricing remain major concerns. Self-storage, land, industrial outdoor storage (e.g., shipping containers, motor vehicles, construction materials), cold storage and healthcare assets ranked most favorably among alternative assets. However, only 11% of investors say they are interested in alternatives, which indicates more of a focus on repriced assets in the main property types.
Investors indicated a preference for high-quality assets across all property types. This underscores our belief that investors will remain discerning about market and asset selection.
Figure 3: Sector Preferences by U.S. Investors
Source: North American Investor Intentions Survey, CBRE Research, January 2026.
Figure 4: U.S. Investment Volume By Property Type
Debt
Over 70% of investors said they will maintain the same debt-to-equity ratio as last year, with 49% indicating they will tolerate one year of negative leverage. This reflects a more accommodative lending environment, supported by strong rents at renewal and lower expected debt costs. However, uncertainty about the direction of interest rates and the reduced size of refinanced loans due to lower capital values are the top two challenges for investors sourcing debt.
Regarding debt investments, investors are most interested in mezzanine financing, mortgage financing and secured loans. Investors are more interested in direct real estate equity investments this year to take advantage of favorable pricing.
The Bottom Line
Investors are ready to deploy more capital in 2026. This sentiment underpins CBRE’s expectation that despite elevated benchmark interest rates, U.S. investment activity will rise by 16% this year. However, amid some uncertainty, market and asset selection with a focus on income will be more important than ever as a new real estate cycle begins.
Related Insights
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CBRE’s European Investor Intentions Survey 2026 outlines how sentiment and strategy are evolving as the market moves further into its recovery phase.
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CBRE’s 2026 Asia Pacific Investor Intentions Survey uncovered a further improvement in buying intentions across most markets in Asia Pacific this year
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Despite uncertainty, growth will continue for the U.S. commercial real estate market in 2026.
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Contacts
Kevin Aussef
President, Americas Investment Properties, Advisory Services
James Millon
Group President and Co-Head, US & Canada, Capital Markets, Advisory Services
Thomas Lee
Group President and Co-Head, US & Canada, Capital Markets, Advisory Services
