Real Estate Investment Conditions & Cushman & Wakefield’s Perspective on AI
- Cushman & Wakefield’s baseline scenario for the Middle East conflict assumes the Hormuz disruption proves temporary, with oil averaging around $90 per barrel in the first half of 2026, before trending back toward $70 as flows normalize. The primary downside risk is a sustained closure, which would keep prices above $100, delay rate cuts and tighten financial conditions materially.
- Commercial real estate (CRE) capital markets are holding their course with transaction activity showing no signs of deceleration. That resilience tracks with history. Geopolitical episodes tend to introduce short-term hesitation rather than cycle interruption, and the underlying drivers of this recovery remain intact: debt markets are liquid, valuations are firming, equity formation is strengthening, and capital continues to pursue assets with clear business plans and durable income streams.
- Recently, Cushman & Wakefield released the first edition of the AI Impact Barometer. This new tool provides our industry with a data-driven platform tracking how one of the biggest economic shifts in generations, the proliferation of artificial intelligence, is influencing CRE market performance in real time.
- Amid rapid improvements with AI technologies the pace of distribution center automation in the industrial market has rapidly accelerated in recent years, Distribution centers built after 2019 generally offer, on average, more than 20% higher electrical power supply per square footage than their predecessors, making these next-gen properties well positioned to benefit from this shift. This is particularly the case for newer properties larger than 500,000 square feet (sf), in which the economies of scale from investing in cutting edge automation are most beneficial. These larger properties are already garnering an outsized acceleration in leasing and occupancy improvements compared to their older and smaller counterparts.
- AI’s proliferation appears to be driving a continuation of office market’s bifurcation trend. Class B and Class C vacancy rates continue to rise, while Class A absorption rates are notably improving. Across the Americas, the top cities for technology R&D/manufacturing employment concentration are experiencing a particularly rapid decline in Class A space availability.
- These are just a couple of the trends highlighted within the AI Impact Barometer. Additionally, you can dive in and explore the emerging shifts the barometer highlights for economies across the globe, as well as for your target property sectors.
Check out our Q1 2026 Cap Rates & Capital Markets Report to learn more.
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