by BE News Team and Charles Ferguson Davie
2025 should start to see investment activity recover: values have rebased in many sectors, there is improving sentiment as interest rates are expected to reduce, but uncertainty over the rate and pace of cuts and the impact of global political volatility will mean that enthusiasm is restrained. For investors with experience across multiple cycles and access to capital, this creates an extended buying window where there will be less competition for assets. Having closed our latest value-add fund in the summer of last year, we will continue investing in our chosen asset classes – UK living and storage – which we see being highly attractive thanks to an under-supply of institutional-quality product and potential for inflation-linkage; a key pull factor in an era when inflation is expected to prove higher for longer. How high will largely depend on the actions of [incoming US president Donald] Trump and other governments, but the credentials of some real estate sectors as offering inflation protection will become increasingly relevant.