CBRE Investment Management Research Highlights the Institutionalization of the Real Estate Secondaries Market

CBRE Investment Management (“CBRE IM”) has published new research showing that the global real estate secondaries market has entered a more mature and institutional phase, evolving from a niche source of liquidity into a deliberate, repeatable portfolio management tool for investors and sponsors.

The paper, The Broadening of Secondary Market Liquidity, is CBRE IM’s third study of the sector and highlights how secondaries are increasingly used to recapitalize ownership structures, preserve control of high‑quality assets and transact at scale, even as traditional exit markets remain uneven.

Global real estate secondaries transaction volumes reached US$25.1 billion in 2025, up from US$24.3 billion in 2024. More importantly, the research shows that activity is being driven less by necessity and more by choice, reflecting a market that has become broader, more sophisticated and more institutionalized.

CBRE IM’s analysis identifies several themes that underline the market’s growing maturity:

• GP‑led structures as standard practice: GP‑led transactions remained the market’s organizing principle in 2025, accounting for 64% of total volume, as continuation vehicles and recapitalizations are used strategically to reset business plans, retain assets and attract expansion capital.
• LP‑led activity accelerates: LP‑led secondaries grew 15% year‑on‑year, reflecting a shift towards proactive portfolio rebalancing and capital recycling, rather than distressed selling.
• Larger, more repeatable transactions: From partial stake sales to mega continuation vehicles, secondaries are increasingly executed at platform scale, signaling a market that is comfortable transacting size and complexity.
• Clear sector conviction: Industrial-led activity, while living sectors continued to broaden, underpinned by income durability and demographic demand. Retail participation was more selective, concentrated in prime, experience‑led assets where pricing discipline and quality were clear.
• Geographic depth supports liquidity: The U.S. remained the global anchor for secondary activity, with Continental Europe also showing consistent momentum across core markets and living platforms.

“Real estate secondaries have fundamentally changed,” said Kilian Toms, Fund Manager, Real Estate Partners II, CBRE Investment Management. “What we are seeing now is a market that has matured into a reliable, institutional liquidity mechanism. Secondaries are no longer about solving one‑off liquidity challenges; they are being deployed deliberately to manage portfolios, preserve ownership of high‑quality assets and execute transactions at scale. As this market continues to broaden, the focus is shifting from whether secondaries should be used to how they can be deployed most effectively alongside primary market strategies.”

CBRE IM expects secondary market activity to remain elevated as investors navigate extended hold periods, valuation dispersion and ongoing capital allocation pressures, with secondaries playing an increasingly central role in global private real estate portfolios.

About CBRE Investment Management
CBRE Investment Management is a leading global real assets investment management firm with $155.2 billion in assets under management* as of March 31, 2026, operating in 20 countries around the world. Through its investor-operator culture, the firm seeks to deliver sustainable investment solutions across real assets categories, geographies, risk profiles and execution formats so that its clients, people and communities thrive.

CBRE Investment Management is an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm and a premier provider of critical infrastructure services. The company has more than 155,000 employees serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE Investment Management harnesses CBRE’s data and market insights, investment sourcing and other resources for the benefit of its clients. For more information, please visit www.cbreim.com.

*Assets under management (AUM) refers to the fair market value of real assets-related investments with respect to which CBRE Investment Management provides, on a global basis, oversight, investment management services and other advice and which generally consist of investments in real assets; equity in funds and joint ventures; securities portfolios; operating companies and real assets-related loans. This AUM is intended principally to reflect the extent of CBRE Investment Management’s presence in the global real assets market, and its calculation of AUM may differ from the calculations of other asset managers and from its calculation of regulatory assets under management for purposes of certain regulatory filings.