Press Release
Growth of Infrastructure Capital in Real Estate Pushes Demand for Alternatives, Says CBRE
May 21, 2026
Media Contact
Director
Media Contact
PR Manager
Media Contact
PR Manager
A convergence of real estate and infrastructure has emerged, with real estate investors extending their focus beyond traditional commercial real estate to diversify and improve risk-adjusted returns, according to new research from CBRE.
CBRE’s data shows that in 2025, alternatives such as living, healthcare and data centres received investment totalling almost £30bn. This has increased the share of alternatives in UK & Ireland real estate investment from 15% in 2016, to 44% at the end of 2025. In Q1 2026, the share dropped slightly to 36%, following heightened activity in Q4 last year for healthcare platform deals.
We’re seeing this shift for a number of reasons. Firstly, investors are looking to diversify. These assets offer inflation protection, stable and often index linked income streams. They also boast durable demand drivers, often with the provision of essential services, as well as low volatility and support from government policy objectives. These attributes are very similar to infrastructure assets, which is where we see the convergence. We are seeing investors redirecting their attention towards sectors which are fundamental to social and economic resilience.
Structural trends such as digitalisation, decarbonisation, demographics, and deglobalisation are reshaping long-term demand for infrastructure. Rapid advancements in AI and cloud services are increasing demand for data, compute power, and AI-enabled capability while simultaneously, energy requirements are reinforcing the need for expanded grid capacity and renewable energy infrastructure.
Real estate investor allocations to infrastructure-overlapping assets have also been rising. Evidence from CBRE’s annual European Investor Intentions survey indicates strong investor appetite for infrastructure-adjacent sectors. In 2026, 69% of respondents reported an intention to allocate capital to at least one alternative sector, up from 62% in 2025. Several of the targeted alternative sectors, such as affordable housing, data centres and healthcare, share fundamental characteristics with infrastructure, and investors directly targeting social and economic infrastructure increased from 10% in 2023 to 17% in 2026.
“For real estate investors, this is an opportunity to shape long-term demand for housing, healthcare and care assets, as well as improve income security,” added Thomasson.
Another factor driving increased investment into infrastructure-adjacent real estate sectors is the 2025 Mansion House Accord. Institutions have committed to allocate at least 10% of their Defined Contribution funds into private markets by 2030 with a further commitment of a minimum of 5% dedicated to UK private markets.
The cash flows presented by infrastructure assets is also commanding investor attention. CBRE’s UK Long Income Index shows that both infrastructure-overlapping sectors, as well as assets including office, retail, industrial and leisure, achieve average annual income growth of 3.8% over the past 10 years. However, infrastructure-overlapping sectors have significantly less income growth volatility compared with those other sectors (1.4% vs. 2.4%), illustrating the attractive risk-adjusted income growth characteristics these assets offer.
Read the full report here.
Our research shows us that the buyer pool is broadening, creating pricing tension, competitive bidding processes and greater certainty of execution. The rising digital and demographic requirement for these assets will be aided by the evolution of sources of capital as investment into UK private markets increases. The impact for UK real estate markets is that more capital will be targeting assets with predictable cashflows, lower volatility, strong governance and transparency, something we’re also seeing transcend across Europe more widely.
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2024 revenue). The company has more than 140,000 employees (including Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE serves clients through four business segments: Advisory (leasing, sales, debt origination, mortgage servicing, valuations); Building Operations & Experience (facilities management, property management, flex space & experience, digital infrastructure services); Project Management (program management, project management, cost consulting); Real Estate Investments (investment management, development). Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.