The release of PERE’s annual Global Investor 100 ranking of private real estate’s top allocators comes with a somber headline for asset managers: For the first time in the ranking’s history, the world’s top 100 property investors saw their total allocation to the asset class decline from the year before.

But that is far from the only intriguing takeaway from this year’s list. On this episode, we take a deep dive into the GI 100 as host Greg Dool sits with PERE’s EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza to discuss shifts in the ranking among Asia-Pacific, European and North American investors, as well as different investor types, and what they suggest about the ongoing movement of capital in the asset class. We also hear from PERE editor Evelyn Lee about the market context behind these shifts and what participants can expect moving forward.

Later in the episode, PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse sits with Dimme Lucassen, managing director and head of the European real estate team at capital advisory firm Evercore, for his view on the findings, the outlook for real estate and the broader relationship between transaction markets and valuations.

This episode is sponsored by Cain International and Arrow Global

After several years defined by rising rates and pricing uncertainty, Europe’s property market may be at an inflection point. Jay Patel, managing director at Arrow Global, and Arvi Luoma, who heads Cain International’s European investment committee, share perspectives on how capital is rebalancing toward the continent in this special episode.

Patel notes that allocators from the US, Middle East and beyond are looking to Europe in ways they weren’t just a year ago, opening the door for both credit and equity strategies. Luoma, meanwhile, emphasizes that valuations appear to have bottomed and that green shoots are starting to show as financing conditions stabilize.

The two also highlight where opportunities are clearest: Germany’s distressed construction projects, Southern Europe’s structural tourism boom, student housing, and continued undersupply in residential and hospitality. Data centers and logistics remain attractive, while ESG regulation – once seen as a hurdle – is increasingly embedded in business plans, shaping how new assets are built and old ones are repositioned.

Taken together, their outlook is one of cautious optimism. Core capital is beginning to return, early movers are testing distressed opportunities, and Europe’s mix of stability, rule of law and long-term demand drivers are drawing greater global interest.

In this episode, the editorial team spotlights rising ambitions in real estate debt following news that QuadReal, the property arm of British Columbia’s public-sector pension scheme, plans to deploy £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion; €2.9 billion) into European real estate credit in the next five years through a newly launched direct lending platform.

By the end of 2029, QuadReal aims to have between 10 and 20 percent of its global real estate debt exposure in the UK and continental Europe, to complement its North American credit platform. It is just the latest example of a North American manager broadening its ambitions to lend in Europe.

Last week, Brookfield wrote its largest European real estate loan deal to date, providing £450 million to refinance two UK retail centers. KKR, meanwhile, plans to deploy a significant piece of the $850 million raised for its latest real estate credit fund to the continent, citing a “very compelling” lending opportunity there, affiliate Real Estate Capital Europe reported in March. Minnesota-based manager Castlelake is currently deploying €1 billion of designated real estate loan capital specifically bound for the Nordic region.

What does this cross-border push suggest about institutional shifts within private real estate going forward? Listen as host Lucy Scott, deputy editor of REC Europe, is joined by Daniel Cunningham, REC Europe’s editor, and Silvia Saccardi, REC Europe's senior reporter, to discuss the trend and dig into the factors driving it. Stay tuned for additional perspective from London-based debt advisory business Art Capital’s Tim Vaughan and AJ Storton, who believe this increasing capital formation and deployment activity is underpinned by the rapid growth of back-leverage lending via US investment banks.

The private real estate market got a boost last week when the US Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark policy rate for the first time in nine months. It is a welcome shift for a property sector that has spent three years grappling with the consequences of higher-for-longer interest rates. But what are the immediate effects of a return to rate-cutting, and how does it alter forecasts for capital deployment and returns going forward?

This episode breaks it all down, with reactions from across the equity and debt sides of the industry. Listen as host Greg Dool chats with PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien and PERE Credit deputy editor Randy Plavajka about the market context for the Fed’s shift and the key indicators for real estate investors in the months ahead.

Later in the episode, we hear from Newmark’s managing director of global research, David Bitner, and head of commercial capital markets research, Joe Biasi, for their take on the news and the extent to which it alters the calculus for dealmaking and fundraising in the rest of 2025 and beyond.

In this episode, Patron Capital founder Keith Breslauer says the firm’s sale of a majority stake to Mitsubishi Estate Global Partners should be seen as a springboard for growth rather than an exit.

Breslauer sat down with PERE’s Jonathan Brasse in August following the headline-grabbing sale of the Europe-focused firm to Mitsubishi Estate Global Partners, the investment management business of Japanese property giant Mitsubishi Estate.

Listen to the wide-ranging interview in full, as Breslauer sets out how the business will evolve following that sale. “I didn’t do this to exit. I did this to grow,” he explained.

Find out the rationale and opportunity behind Mitsubishi’s backing, which includes an initial €600 million equity injection, and how Patron will diversify as a result, taking it beyond its 25-year history in opportunistic equity investing.

Among the initiatives discussed is the build-out of a private real estate debt platform, launched in April under the leadership of former CBRE executive Henry Randolph. Breslauer also highlights strong investor appetite for credit strategies but stresses the need to underwrite cautiously in volatile markets.

Among the other topics floated during this episode is a potential collaboration with Europa Capital, another London-based manager acquired by Mitsubishi in 2010, and a willingness to contribute to Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.

This week, The PERE Podcast breaks down the revelation that banking giant Morgan Stanley’s real estate arm has amassed a $900 million fund specifically targeting Japan’s real estate sector. The capital raise is notable not just for its size, which greatly exceeded its target of around $500 million, but for the strategic approach it represents as Morgan Stanley’s first country-specific real estate fund outside the US.

Morgan Stanley is not alone among North American asset managers in its enthusiasm for the Japanese property market. In May, BGO closed a $4.6 billion Asian real estate fund – its largest fund ever – with 65 to 75 percent of the capital earmarked for Japan. In June, Los Angeles’ Ares Management closed a $2.4 billion fund focused entirely on Japanese data centers. These, along with the $4 billion raised for Hong Kong-based PAG’s Secured Capital Real Estate Partners VIII, which will be 70 percent deployed to Japan, were among the eight biggest real estate funds closed anywhere in the world in the first half of 2025.

What is driving all of this capital formation? Listen as host Lucy Scott, PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE editor Evelyn Lee discuss why international managers are seeking to deploy in the country, what this latest news means in the context of Morgan Stanley’s real estate history, and what it signals to the market about the firm’s evolution as a manager.

Offices are back in the spotlight this week on both sides of the Atlantic, and this episode explores some of the reasons behind the sector’s newfound momentum in both investor interest and lender appetite.

Join host Greg Dool, Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham and PERE Deals reporter McKenna Leavens as they discuss the latest developments, including Norges Bank Investment Management's acquisition of a Midtown Manhattan tower, a deal announced on Tuesday, as well as surging activity in London, where offices have featured prominently in a hotbed of financing deals in recent days.

The episode also features expert analysis from Oliver Salmon, director of global capital markets at Savills World Research, who sat down with co-host Lucy Scott to discuss the driving factors behind renewed investor confidence in the office sector and what this could mean for non-prime office assets and locations.

This episode is sponsored by Arrow Global

Germany’s property market is facing the highest insolvency rate in Europe. Years of cheap credit and rising prices encouraged aggressive development, but when interest rates jumped, buyers paused, sales collapsed and projects ran out of cash. The result: a wave of bankruptcies across the sector.

However, in this episode, CEO of Arrow Global Germany Bernhard Hansen explains that there’s opportunity within this dislocation. Stalled projects and smaller developments are waiting for investors with the expertise and capital to finish them. With housing demand far outpacing supply, especially in cities like Munich, he believes there is still strong long-term potential.

That potential of course comes with challenges: stricter sustainability rules, tougher financing conditions, and wary buyers mean projects take longer and require deeper due diligence. Yet Hansen is optimistic. International investors and alternative lenders are stepping in, and he says the correction is less of an ending, and more of a recalibration of Germany’s real estate market.