Belgian Real Estate Investor Survey 2025
CBRE Belgium conducts an annual real estate investor survey to assess the sentiment of real estate investors. The survey is based on an extensive questionnaire completed in the months of December 2024 and January 2025 by 25 national and international developers and investors, active in Belgium.
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Investment volume
The CBRE Belgium Investor Survey 2025 shows that the 25 investors surveyed plan to make €3.7 billion in Belgian commercial real estate investments by 2025. Almost €150 million per respondent, which nevertheless indicates a strong will to invest. The divestments are also considerable. The sale of €2.3 billion in real estate assets is scheduled. More than € 90 million per investor. Nearly 1 in 3 investors are net sellers, and will therefore sell more than they buy in 2025. Furthermore, a total of € 500 million will be reserved as CapEx for modernizing the existing portfolio and making it more sustainable.
ESG Investment Objectives
The results show that real estate investors wish to further increase the sustainability of their real estate portfolios. 54% of respondents wish to improve the quality of their existing portfolio through renovation and redevelopment efforts, in order to meet modern sustainability standards. 24% of investors indicate that they only invest in ESG-compliant assets, adhering to recognised frameworks such as EPC, BREEAM, DGNB, LEED and WELL certifications.
Capital allocation
In the survey, investors also discuss their expected capital allocation per property type in 2025. The data again shows that logistics is expected to dominate the investment volume, with an allocation of €1.65 billion. Offices follow closely with €1.16 billion, indicating a continued belief in the office markets and the need for physical office spaces. Investment in multifamily housing is estimated at €460 million, indicating a consistent interest in housing amid urbanisation trends. The retail sector is taking a more cautious approach with only €210.2 million in planned investments. Hotels and leisure are expected to have 97 million euros in investments, reflecting cautious optimism in the travel sector a few years after the pandemic.
Financing in 2025
Overall, the survey points to a predominantly stable availability of debt among real estate investors. Interestingly, a 56% of real estate investors believe that financing costs will fall in 2025, indicating optimism about lower interest rates.
In recent years, debt leverage has become more cautious, with more than three-quarters of loan-to-value (LTV) ratios at or below 50%. This trend can be attributed to several factors, including banks adopting more restrictive lending policies, which encourage borrowers to hold lower levels of debt relative to their asset values. Additionally, rising interest rates and the higher cost of debt financing have made leverage less attractive, leading lenders and borrowers alike to prefer more conservative financial strategies to finance their property purchases.
Returns
In the CBRE Real Estate Investment Survey 2025, real estate investors also give their opinion on the returns per property type. Our investor panel expects the top yields for long-term office leases to rise from 4.25% to 4.40%. This increase may indicate a growing impatience among buyers about the illiquidity of this asset class. For offices with standard leases, a slight decrease in yield is expected to 5.00%, compared to 5.25% last year. Logistics real estate is expected to see a decline in returns to 4.85%, last year 5.25%. The return for retail real estate is expected to fall slightly to 4.70%. For residential real estate, the most aggressive investors on the panel would be willing to pay 4.5%.
Headaches in 2025?
In 2025, real estate investors are mainly concerned about a possible economic recession in 2025. The resurgence of inflation and global political instability are also important risks, according to the panel. Other key issues include rising interest rates and the possibility of a global economic shock undermining consumer demand.
- For more information, please download the publication
