For the record

Private investors were the most active buyers in global commercial real estate investment in 2022. Antonia Haralambous dissects the numbers to uncover the trends

Despite the global macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds that persisted throughout 2022, investment from private sources remained robust. Private investors were the most active buyers in global commercial real estate markets in 2022 with US$455 billion invested, accounting for 41% of the total, according to RCA.

This represents private buyers’ highest share of global commercial real estate investment on record. It’s also the first time private investment has surpassed institutional investment. Institutions invested a total of US$440 billion in 2022, 28% below 2021 volumes, but 2% above the 10-year average. By comparison, while private investment was down from its alltime high of US$493 billion in 2021, 2022 was still the second strongest year in history, sitting 62% above the 10-year average.

Sectors Of Choice

Multifamily residential – or private rented sector (PRS) – offices and industrial assets attracted the greatest interest, as reflected in our Attitudes Survey which shows that 43% of respondents are already invested in offices and 40% in industrial assets. Ownership in retail, life sciences, healthcare, PRS, data centres and education real estate all increased in 2022 compared with the previous year.

1.12trn

The what…

Private capital investment split by sector (US$bn)