Mipim, the world's largest real estate conference, has this week played host to an industry trying to understand the challenges and opportunities being created by unchartered geopolitical change in many of the largest global property markets.

CoStar News spoke to leading figures over the three days on Cannes' famous La Croisette promenade to find out the key trends affecting them and how they are responding. The answers were surprising, especially a consensus that tensions and challenges created by President Trump's new administration means Europe was increasingly in favour with global investors.

Colin Wilson, chief executive, EMEA, at Cushman & Wakefield, summed it up well: "What was unavoidable was the commentary around the macro and geopolitical uncertainties, notably the fast-changing environment around global trade.  This will undoubtedly add complexity to decision-making but the impetus for action now seems to outweigh the likelihood for prevarication or further delays in the start to the market recovery that has been so long overdue.”

Cannes may have been wet and windy all week but the conference was busy. The big names in all aspects of real estate from across the globe were there, dodging the rain in the apartments and tents and bars and stands, looking to take on the big challenges for the sector.

Second, there were more high-profile figures from politics across Europe than normal in attendance — a sign of new administrations trying to win over the private sector to get housing and infrastructure built.

Third, major market-moving deals were being talked about everywhere, but fewer than normal went under offer or were completed during the week, and the people involved were more guarded and circumspect than usual. This is a particularly fragile market. One big deal could seriously improve activity. One collapsed deal could do the opposite.

It is true that the 20,000-plus delegates remain focused primarily on "beds and sheds", or residential and logistics, as their top picks. They are the investment classes that have been in vogue for some time. But other asset classes are fighting their way back into contention, with hospitality and retail attracting a growing number of fans, and offices a perhaps surprising pick for many seasoned practitioners.

As ever the conference saw a host of new participants, new investment opportunities and new subjects. There were also protesters stomping the streets of La Croisette bemoaning "speculation" and "logement cher" (expensive accommodation). These are febrile political times and many delegates remarked on how they had ended up in meetings where real estate had been pushed to one side to discuss geopolitics. President Trump's re-election and recent tariff threats and bid for peace in Ukraine have roiled international markets. News of a potential 200% tariff on champagne went down particularly badly in the South of France.

Alongside that, there were inventive regeneration opportunities being marketed and showcased from countries from all over the globe, and innovative developments were celebrated. The Mipim top development awards for 2025 picked out 11 schemes across the globe including best hospitality, tourism & leisure project: Sky Mirrors, Luzhou, China; and best industrial & logistics project: Wildflower Film Studios, New York City. And once again the Saudi Arabian stand stole the show with its high-tech visualisations of the massively ambitious projects being brought forward.

Neil Slater, chief executive of European real estate investment group Redevco, neatly summed up the mix of optimism that the conference always brings, alongside the awareness that real estate still has a challenging story to tell to global capital allocators: "My sense [is], look, it’s still a very difficult market for real estate. You’ve been seeing the sunlight of positivity coming through but my goodness me, isn’t it a difficult market out there, given where bond yields are at, given market uncertainty. So I would say, actually, that there’s a similar feeling to last year. We’re in a great asset class but, my goodness me, we have to work right now to demonstrate why you should invest in real estate, ensure the opportunity cost, ensure we can give true value."

The living sector remains the overwhelming flavour of the month for investors, driven ultimately by the clear fact that Europe needs more houses, and a lot of them, and fast.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan kicked off the conference by joking at the Housing Matters event on Monday that he had brought the weather with him from the UK before quickly moving on to focus on the desperate need for houses in London, and the UK. He brought up one of the most common discussion points at the conference — how to crack the nut of public and private sector collaboration to build houses, particularly social and affordable housing.

Mads Rude, senior managing director at Patrizia, is leading the global investment manager’s social housing impact fund strategy.

"Being in Mipim has underlined how the majority of investors have housing as their top priority. The important thing here has been the encouragement of public and private sector collaboration, something we have been successfully doing with our Patrizia Sustainable Communities Fund. The Mayor of London started the conference off by talking about the need for this and here I have met with many municipal leaders such as the Catalan housing minister."

Rude is not the only investor to suggest that, in some ways, the unfolding tensions between countries places Europe in a better place than even six months ago in terms of its appeal for investors.

Round Hill Capital, chairman and CEO Michael Bickford, agrees: "What I am telling people here is the next 24 months is the time to invest in European housing as it offers way more relative value than elsewhere around the globe. The European housing sector offers the best risk-return you can find for hard assets and we have the data to prove it."

He added: "We at Round Hill Capital are a pure-play living investment manager and currently only focused on pan-European investment strategies. Although we have been investors in the US historically, we see better values and fundamentals still a few years away with still a risk of further repricing."

Bickford continued: "The hope is that European governments focusing more on defence and immigration at present does not blind them to the absolute priority of more housing."

Rajit Dass, managing director, head of capital markets at Round Hill Capital, adds: "What we are seeing more recently is investor sentiment pivoting back to Europe and the living sectors remain a high priority."

Mark Allnutt, executive director of Europe, at Greystar, the build-to-rent and student homes giant, says he has been very busy at Mipim. "I have been back-to-back with investors finding what they want from us and talking about capital and deal flow. In 2024, we raised a lot of capital and now we are looking to deploy it. The living sectors are top of the list for capital allocation. We will be very acquisitive in Europe, in the Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany and the UK."

In terms of the UK, Allnutt says the country remains fundamentally strong for investment, with the government trying to make great strides on planning reform. "On the other hand, the cost of borrowing and building regulations particularly meeting Gateway Two [building safety] requirements is a barrier. We will probably want to stick to developing buildings under 18 storeys for this reason.”

Logistics remains the other favoured destination for investors.

Alicia Peters, the vice-president, industrial and logistics and residential, Europe at Canadian investment giant Oxford Properties says it wants to grow from around €900 million to €4 billion of assets in the next three years, after securing the huge Australian Super fund as its joint venture partner in its logistics platform with M7. "As evidence of intent we completed two deals for estates in Altrincham and Bury at around £60 million at the end of last year. We are starting to hear about some pent-up product ready for sale as a result of some funds maturing that will be looking for liquidity."

Peters says Oxford will continue to be looking at opportunities in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark where M7 has established "on-the-ground teams to execute on asset management opportunities".

Colin Godfrey, chief executive of major UK logistics owner Tritax Big Box REIT, is among those who think the jury is still out on the government's new Planning and Infrastructure Bill and pledging a radical acceleration of development: "I am not too convinced the planning reform will have a significant impact on planning. If you look at consents in commercial property it is pretty consistent.

"It was a transformational year for us last year, though. If you had said to me before this year 'do you have everything you want to have in your business?' then it would have been 'no', but this year I have. We have a really high-quality core portfolio and strong tenancy underpinning our dividend, and a highly reversionary portfolio.

"We are alive to opportunities and are monitoring the market but major scale at its most extreme form can be a benefit, but it can also moderate performance, so growth shouldn't be pursued for its own sake."

There were plenty of people banging the drum for offices, particularly prime and particularly in London. Two of the largest UK transactions dominating gossip in the bars and apartments were in London with Royal London Asset Management and the team of Aware Super and Delancey battling it out for an office and retail block on Hanover Square in the West End, as reported, and Blackstone being linked to a return to the table for Nuveen's 70 St Mary Axe, or the "Can of Ham" for in excess of £330 million.

There were many prepared to stick their necks out and say they were committing, or recommitting, to the sector. Lee Coward, vice-president, investments, at Canadian investment giant Oxford Properties, confirmed it was back in the market for offices: "After not acquiring any London office assets for a decade, Oxford is also looking to return to investing in the London office sector. This will be primarily focused on high-quality, core-plus and value-add assets."

Hans Vrensen, an AEW managing director heading the European research and strategy team, agrees: "AEW Research wants to highlight convictions, especially when these are not in line with general market consensus." He went on to say: "For instance, in our 2025 Outlook, prime offices was our top pick for Europe – which was not market consensus. This view is focused on prime offices mostly, as we are not blind to the downside in secondary markets. Positive trends for European offices include that they have repriced faster than any other prime sector over the last two to three years.

"Among the current exceptions to this are La Defense and Canary Wharf. On a relative value basis, Benelux, French and even UK offices are classified as attractive. In respect of prime rents and investment volumes, central London offices leads this recovery."

Julian Sandbach, head of central London offices at JLL, says his agency is beginning to see UK offices being more favoured, starting in London.

"The occupier market for the right building is strong, with low vacancy and increasing rents and we see this continuing and encouraging investment. In the West End for instance there has been strong bidding recently for 11-12 Hanover Square with potentially a sub-4% yield being paid for this reversionary investment. That depth of investor demand is increasing because interest rates are predicted to reduce later this year and that is likely to lead to cheaper money, coupled with making the case for real estate compared to fixed income more compelling."

Sandbach adds that he is seeing sustained demand from private equity buyers, alongside increasing appetite from UK funds and some German funds, and it will spread from the West End to the City, where yields are more attractive.

"The City is always a little more of a herd mentality, and activity will increase when price points are created. We are confident that a handful of larger £100 million-plus sales will trade fairly soon and that will change things. There will be greater volumes this year for the market to build from."

Fergus Keane, BNP Paribas Real Estate, head of capital markets London, says the story is the market is finally turning in London: "Six months ago talking to global investors it was harder to talk to them about offices rather than beds and sheds but that is very much changing for London offices and retail. It is back to the fact that real estate is ultimately about income and income growth and then afterwards you might get some yield shift. Really important has been the big American corporates returning to the office and that is changing investment attitudes."

Larry Young, in the central London capital markets team at BNP Paribas Real Estate, says: "We have had a lot of meetings despite the bad weather and the feeling is the market is on the up in the UK. US money is leading the way with the French SCPIs [funds] still buying and we had good meetings with German funds and private investors who are active."

Richard Garside, head of central London investment, Savills, agrees that there is more positive intent. "Our book of business coming forwards now means we will likely be very busy by the second half with almost every profile of asset squared off. The market is picking up thanks to continued rental growth and more positive capital market datapoints."

Richard Womack, the head of West End capital market for Cushman & Wakefield, describes the market as warming up "slowly but surely".

"The macro environment continues to hinder the pace of recovery, particular swap rates uncertainty, but it is easier than last year when deals are being done.

"The market is very nuanced for occupiers. Location-wise, you have to have single-access commute preferably by Crossrail [Elizabeth line]. You need great amenity – inside the building if it is large and nearby if small. And as offices are a proxy for the war on talent, you need a good building."

And then there are those who are following up on recent successes that have proved the story for them. Rob Samuel, head of UK development at AXA IM Alts, says: "We are focused on a number of sectors pan-Europe and one is our commitment to super-prime offices. With 22 Bishopsgate fully let we are focused on our next project at 50 Fenchurch Street. We have learned a lot from 22 Bishopsgate, pioneering the quantity of shared amenity to deliver one of the first vertical villages in a major office tower."

Bertie Norman, head of strategic asset mandates at Patrizia, has been in town to tell landlords and owners that the asset manager is ready to help rework their buildings to take advantage of strong demand. She explains: “We provide investors with solutions for single-asset opportunities, forming long-term partnerships throughout the asset lifecycle and across sectors, with asset sizes starting at £100 million. We manage a £2 billion portfolio across Europe, including key markets such as London, Brussels and Frankfurt. Our mandates span a diverse investor base, from Taiwanese insurers and Korean pension funds to Singaporean developers and Hong Kong-listed REITs. Our expertise lies in office repositioning projects – an exciting example being Pinners Hall in London, where we are transforming the asset for a Singaporean investor through a best-in-class refurbishment.”

A duo in town and celebrating 25 years as a company – and a major planning win – were London development manager Co-re's Bradley Baker and David Ainsworth.

Baker says: "We are walking around with a smile on our faces given our development of the former ITV site is now on show — after going to public inquiry — on the London stand and it is very much full steam ahead. Rents are showing strong performance in central London and yields will hopefully be coming in by the end of the year. The unknown bit is the cost of money."

Ainsworth says: "There isn't much choice for space now. Sentiment is not bad." He adds: "I think with offices occupancy everything is pointing to businesses moving back to how things were before the big lockdown five years ago. And we know businesses see they need to be centralised and not dispersed."

There were also many waving the flag for UK regional offices.

Simon Prichard, senior partner, Newmark, says: "In terms of the current themes and opportunities it seems everyone is pursuing familiar strategies once again – living sector, powered land and good logistics. But my pick would be regional offices. There have not been many built in recent times and there is good demand and rental growth and a great opportunity to repurpose and bring assets up to ESG standards."

Hugh White, head of national capital markets, BNP Paribas Real Estate, pointed to 10 Victoria Street in Bristol and the sale to Schroders Capital as a good example of the strength of demand at a £25 million price tag for a high quality building. "The sweet spot for UK regional offices is £20 million to £45 million with a depth of demand from French SCPI funds and now UK funds beginning to re-enter the market."

You did not have to look far to find the charms of retail – particularly retail parks and shopping centres – being heralded. People in the market believe the value collapse driven by shifts to online shopping and the pandemic is over, rents have rebased, and tenants and income are robust – not to mention the opportunity for repurposing space for last mile logistics delivery.

Tim Vallance, executive director, EMEA, capital markets, JLL, has spent the past decade drawing up data points to highlight the investment appeal of physical retail: "Retail never went away. The big impact has clearly been online shopping but since 2016 we have focused on working out the likely impact on store closures and the bottom of the market has passed. Investors like the fact that ultimately there is really nowhere to hide with retail. If there is a vacant unit we can quite easily work out who the retailers are who would likely fill it and what the sustainable rent should be."

The hotel sector has become a more and more visible asset class at Mipim, with its own pavilion for the first time this year. They see an opportunity to tap into massive investor interest in the sector as the latter turn to operational assets and away from other real estate.

Nuno Galvão Pinto, vice-president, development, Hyatt, says there are many reasons for the group to be at Mipim. "Generally it is to meet not only our existing network of owners and franchisees but to meet new owners. Connecting with people interested in hospitality is interesting to exchange ideas about trends in the industry. Finally, for two to three years, hotels have come to the forefront as an asset class." He adds: "People are exploring whether to invest in hotels particularly as other asset classes are not performing."

Felicity Black-Roberts, senior vice-president, development for the same group, adds: "Hospitality used to be a specialist investment class. What we are now seeing is hospitality being seen as more mainstream and investors are interested in the sector and understand the underlying dynamics and risks.”

In terms of the UK, Galvão Pinto adds consumer demand remains strong despite headwinds around the minimum wage, business rates and National Insurance contributions. "There are high occupancy levels and particularly American travellers coming back to London, and now Middle Eastern and the first signs of Asian travellers returning."

Participants think real estate finance would be a more diverse and so, more interesting, market in 2025, given returning acquisition finance and alternative routes such as a bigger commercial mortgage-backed securities market in Europe.

Serenity Morley, global chief operating officer at loan servicing group Mount Street, says: "This is going to be a big year for financing and loan servicing. The CMBS market is picking up with more sponsors, bigger assets and less granular transactions. In addition acquisition financing is returning where last year the market was mainly refinancing and extensions. For me a key thing about Mipim is meeting up with people from other jurisdictions and hearing what is happening that may be different for them."

Gadi Jay, senior managing director in the real estate group at private equity giant Blackstone, says: “We have seen a material uptick in liquidity for real estate debt across the spectrum and whilst we anticipate some amount of volatility, overall the trends remain positive for financing going forward. A well-functioning debt market requires a diversification of funding sources, an example of which is CMBS, where we have seen more deals brought to market this year then we have for a number of years.”

Chris Gow, head of debt and structured finance at CBRE, says its business was 60% acquisitions for years. "That fell to 6% in 2023 and lifted back to 22% last year. I suspect it will be 30% to 40% this year. The amount of work on pitches with colleagues on volume of sales suggests more big deals are coming."

The most interesting conversations at Mipim often happen unexpectedly with individuals in town to promote new ideas and solutions.

The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors had a stand, staffed by SIOR global president and managing principal of the Minneapolis-St Paul office of Cushman & Wakefield, Mike Ohmes, and Matthew Leguen de Lacroix, who leads SIOR business development in Europe. They were there to drum up interest in what for much of its history has been a North American phenomenon.

Leguen de Lacroix says the organisation is committed to global growth with over 4,000 members, 10% of which are outside of the United States. The organisation has members in 50 countries on six continents with strong chapters in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. Its members represent the top industrial and office advisors across the globe, it says.

Ohmes explained that, formed in 1941 as the Society of Industry Realtors, it was instrumental in locating industrial and manufacturing space that could be used for defence and war materials for the Second World War. The body has professional standards and a code of ethics. Members have to be nominated by peers and have to meet strict gross fee income criteria to prove a certain amount of deals have been advised on. "The critical difference with other bodies is it is about doing business and transacting with other SIOR members."

Ohmes says of his first Mipim: "It has been energising to see how the world shows up in Cannes to promote their real estate opportunities, share current trends and thought leadership, make new contacts and build relationships. Everyone has been working through various levels of turbulence over the last several years, but it is exciting to see the vast number of opportunities that exist for investment and development in the office and industrial sectors as the fundamentals in industrial remain strong, more companies are calling their employees back to the office, and the capital markets are ramping up in 2025 and beyond.”

All the leading brokers were at Mipim, and it is clear they continue to see it as a hugely important way to meet clients from across the globe face-to-face. There are also companies that can use the event to show how they have rebranded or that they have expanded across Europe.

Simon Prichard, senior partner, at the US brokerage Newmark, which has made a huge splash across the Continent, notably in the acquisition of Prichard's Gerald Eve and BH2, the London offices adviser, says: "Two years into the Newmark takeover and it is going very, very well. The name change of the businesses has been very positive. I was never sentimental about the name but, of course, about the culture of Gerald Eve but we have the same people with the same ethics and excellence. I think in the UK it has really helped to brand the different businesses as Newmark, to add BH2's valuable network of great contacts while Gerald Eve has brought a wealth of strategies in terms of planning for instance."

Josh Miller, managing director and head of the European transactions group at Harrison Street, revealed that the investment management giant, owned 75% by Colliers, is on the verge of a major drive into the UK self-storage sector, as reported.

He adds: "We are very positive about our core sectors — PBSA, build to rent, life sciences and now, in the UK, a focus on self-storage. It has been slower than normal raising capital for real estate in the markets since the Covid period, the run of black-swan events making people cautious. What is needed is consistency on policy, without that there can be paralysis. But that also means opportunity. In times of more turbulence we have been able to find opportunities to be early movers."

Tom James, head of transactions, UK direct real estate, CBRE Investment Management, says cautious optimism is still the phrase this year.

"We have a stable government and an active pool of capital wishing to deploy. Last year we completed £1 billion of transactions in 24 deals and that was cross-sector and cross-geography, though focused on the living sectors and industrial. This will continue though we do need to know who the motivated sellers are. The blurring between what is core and core-plus will continue."

Adriana Paice Kent, chief executive at Woven Spaces and an artist, made a self-funded success of a major London office redevelopment and moved on to her next project. She is in town to show potential landlord partners how she did it. "I self-funded and redeveloped the art deco Gaslight Building in Fitzrovia and sold on to the Dyson family's Weybourne after leasing it to Atomico. And now I have bought 6-10 Market Place from GPE off Oxford Street. I am interested in how contemporary craft can add identity to a building and I am focused on the soul value of a building and what is the experience of the building."

Ben Sanderson, managing director of real estate at Aviva Investors, says the year will, more than ever, be about being targeted. "While we are positive it is crucial to be targeted and selective. There are opportunities but it is hard to do things and you have to be selective. Ultimately values have stabilised and inflation has been squeezed out of the system. The theme for this year again is buy well and manage really well."

Colin Wilson, Chief Executive, EMEA, at Cushman & Wakefield, added that despite the weather it was undoubtedly an optimistic tone throughout the conference.  "This was over and above the normal positivity that I have seen in the many years down in Cannes.  Many investors and developers recognise the fact that we are at, or moving through, the inflection point of the market with greater clarity around underlying values, interest rates, and the easing of inflationary pressures."

CoStar News revealed a string of exclusives from the event. For all our coverage, click here.

CoStar News and sister publication Business Immo also interviewed business leaders on camera: