INTRODUCTION Contributed by: John Sullivan and Matt Alshouse, DLA Piper LLP
DLA Piper LLP 33 Arch Street, 26th Floor Boston MA 02110-1447 444 West Lake Street, Suite 900
Chicago IL 60606 USA
Tel: +1 617 406 6029 Fax: +1 617 406 6129 Email: john.sullivan@dlapiper.com
matthew.alshouse@dlapiper.com
Web: www.dlapiper.com
Real Estate: A Global Introduction Overview: high hopes to start the year, followed by uncertainty As we have previously noted in this introduc - tion, real estate is by far the world’s largest store of wealth, eclipsing the value of global equities and debt securities combined, and comprising almost four times global GDP. While the world’s population, and thus the need for the develop - ment and construction of real estate is ever growing, quite famously, no additional land can be produced. So, at a macro level, the future of global demand for real estate remains bright. Nonetheless, as readers of this guide know, macro forces can also disrupt the property mar - kets. One such macro force disruption was the COVID 19 global pandemic, which lead to a virtual freeze on real estate investment and lending activities, a general reduction in value across most asset types, an increase in loan and covenant defaults, and general stress and uncertainty. Just as the markets were starting to find a new equilibrium, COVID-era economic stimulus policies teamed up with pent up demand to bring us increased
inflation and a dramatic upswing in interest rates. The result was another significant slow - down in real estate transactional activity as high inflation and interest rates stressed valuations and financing activities. Following the challenges created by the pan - demic, high inflation and rising rates, at the start of this year we appeared to be headed back into a more stable real estate landscape marked by higher transaction volumes. CBRE reports that 70% of the investors it surveyed in January of 2025 intended to buy more real estate in 2025 than in 2024, and close to half plan to sell more property, as well. PERE indicated similar feed - back from institutional investors, noting that the proportion of their investor respondents seek - ing to reduce capital commitments to real estate markets declined to the lowest level since 2022. In other words, many are looking to turn the taps back on. After several years of muted transac - tion activity, this came as welcome news. Now, however, recently announced tariffs and concerns about possible trade wars are creating new uncertainty both with respect to property
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