MIPIM 2026: Reflections from our global team

UK

The mood generally amongst investors is that they are keen to deploy, although pricing is still a challenge particularly with the risk of interest rates rising. The funds are seeing inflows again and many are ready to deploy. It's been challenging doing that fundraising, but they are now in a position to invest.  However they need to find the right products and the right return and there’s still a spread between asking price and what investors see as value. It really felt like investors were beginning to accept that we wouldn’t soon be returning to “normal” – but sentiment is frail and inflation and potential interest rate rises were constant notes of caution. 

In terms of where they want to deploy at the moment, the living sector still looks very stable although as always the returns are low and steady so they only suit low risk investors; so mostly we are seeing quite core or core plus money going into that sector. There is also still quite a significant amount of activity around sheds, industrials and logistics, and selectively retail. The sentiment at MIPIM around those areas was generally positive. Data centres are also still proving a very popular sector and that popularity shows no signs of abating, although it’s not really a data centre conference – Hogan Lovells will be at DataCloud which is the prime European conference for data centres.  In our conversations at MIPIM it was also clear that decent quality office that could be refurbished into something sustainable, which occupiers will want to have, is popular. We are continuing to see some market bifurcation in terms of high quality and lower quality office, as the latter cannot be repurposed at a sensible cost.

Construction costs and planning remain challenging, and viability is the key hurdle for developers.  That includes the living space, despite all the enthusiasm in that sector– in the UK particularly developers are turning to grant funding to make schemes deliverable. Unfortunately planning permissions in relation to consented residential units in major cities such as London end up lapsing, despite the need for housing supply, because developers simply cannot afford to bring them forward. So, viability is a very real concern.  Secondly, potential interest rate rises resulting from the geopolitical situation are a very real issue and have created uncertainty just at the point where things were looking more stable. Linked to this, another area of potential growth includes defence. Increased military spending will also initiate development of technology, creating new industrial sites, new technology sites, new manufacturing facilities, and of course, military bases and military homes.

Generally, the sentiment was fairly positive - investors do want to spend money, and the debt is generally there.  The banks and credit funds attended en masse and are open for business – but selectively (reflecting investor and developer appetite).

Germany

The number of attendees at MIPIM has declined, evidenced by a slightly less busy Palais, the (improved) availability of taxis at night and by far fewer boats, which shows the challenges the industry is still exposed to.

However, the availability and interest of foreign (debt and equity) capital in Germany seems to be improving, which is in line with what we are seeing in our practice. There is still a stark contrast in mood and approach between investors with historic challenges in their portfolios, and those who started fresh after the interest rates crisis. Many of the latter are full steam ahead, while eligibility criteria and risk management requirements are still tight. With many players, after bad experiences “can we exit (successfully)?” is a key question.

It seems that for Germany, besides the still popular asset classes like logistics and life sciences, investors have an increasing interest in the residential sector and other “beds”, including student housing, micro living and student apartments. Investors are concerned about the political agenda and what the (left wing) political parties may have in mind regarding the residential sector (such as further rent caps, expropriation?). But the fact that there is practically no risk of vacancies in the right locations – given the historic lack of investment and the resulting short supply in big cities – makes German residential housing hard to resist. Hotels and data centres are also popular, but not all experts in these fields are actually at MIPIM given competing specialized events. Office is coming back, but outside of conversions this remains very limited to core plus/ core properties in core locations of key cities.

France

The French real estate market is likely to be slow until the Presidential Elections in May 2027. Brokers expect the market to pick up a few weeks after the results of those elections, but this is still speculative and the question is in which sectors and by how much?

2025 was a challenging year but the trending transactions were sale and lease backs and foreign investments, sometimes coupled together.

All eyes are on data centres and the logistics sector also remains popular.

Conclusion

The new world order we are seeing of geopolitical flux and uncertainty is certainly a defining influence on the global real estate market for now, not least due to the potential impact on interest rates. However there is definitely capital waiting to be deployed, for the right assets, and it is positive to see that key sectors such as data centres, logistics, residential, student accommodation, hotels and life sciences remain generally robust as well as real estate connected defence spending. As long as projects are viable, there is certainly capital and debt available; viability being an absolutely key concern and more so than ever given the current geopolitical backdrop.

Authored by Daniel Norris, Martin Gunther, Alexander Premont, Stella Bliss, and Ingrid Stables.