The wide-ranging tariffs introduced by the US administration in April 2025 are beginning to affect decisions around real estate and capital raising across the world. Some investors are reassessing their strategies accordingly, with risk appetites shifting as economic forecasts are rewritten.

Urban Land Institute recently convened two separate panels of industry experts, representing the Americas, APAC, and EMEA regions, to discuss how these measures are impacting the real estate sector globally, and what the risks are in this new geopolitical climate.

Both closed door forums for ULI members began with requests for short summaries of the current market situation from each panellist, with responses including an unsurprising emphasis on the uncertainty and severe volatility of the situation to an acknowledgment of the select opportunities this situation may also yield. Opinions ranged from the situation being a ‘rollercoaster’ to being ‘exciting’, and one panellist noted that it was keeping them very busy.

Delving more deeply, both panels presented a variety of perspectives on challenges and opportunities from across the three regions. Despite prevailing uncertainty, the conversations revealed a mix of caution, adaptability, and opportunity-seeking across the sector.

Among the discussion highlights, it was acknowledged that many are waiting-it-out for the ‘Liberation Day’ dust to settle across the world, either being highly selective in their decision making or in no rush to make significant decisions especially after the previous five years of turbulence and uncertainty in many markets. There’s a critical need to understand, reevaluate and manage portfolio risk by closely watching the real time data.

However, the activity pipeline is still proceeding, and while capital and leasing decision making has slowed, many are poised to make opportunistic decisions including around diversification rather than ‘sit on the sidelines’ for potentially years. Proactive investors are being selective in their strategies and cherry-picking opportunities backed by strong domestic drivers and macro tailwinds. Getting comfortable with an uncertain environment has merit, it was noted. Indeed, one panellist commented that the current cycle is marked by “uncertainty for longer” rather than just “higher for longer” interest rates.

‘Safe haven’ tendencies for investors figured predominantly in the discussions, with questions of whether they should focus more on markets perceived as neutral or friendlier to the US, and some noting that increased allocation activity has been seen in European and Asian markets such as London and Singapore.

The continuing role of the US dollar as the reserve currency was also raised, with comments on whether it is going to be diminished in future as it increases in expense, and if any investors are seeking to reduce their dollar exposure. It was also noted that after the US dollar the next strongest currency is the Euro, providing Europe with a real opportunity to play an even larger role, despite the continent’s lack of political cohesion.

Industrial and logistics real estate provided a major focus for both panel discussions, with the sector obviously exposed to tariff policy and trade uncertainty especially in relation to imported goods. However, there was also much optimism, and it was noted that in volatile times many companies need more logistics real estate for adaptability and flexibility against uncertainty, with urgent and short-term requirements already arising, and storage logistics for goods and services becoming increasingly important. However, it was acknowledged that the need to diversify supply chains will also impact real estate decision making.

Additionally, many logistics real estate occupiers are more focused on domestic and regional distribution to major urban consumption centres and are not excessively exposed to imports, with demand for domestic distribution remaining strong in many markets.

As well as storage logistics, other sectors perceived as favourable in the current climate included those that are more defensive with good fundamentals and real tailwinds such as pan-Asian multifamily, and residential more generally in Europe. High demand but low supply asset classes such as data centres as well as infrastructure are also favourably viewed.

Another point of discussion focused on how operational expertise is emerging as a key differentiator. Success now depends on the ability to actively manage, curate, and create value—not simply hold assets and wait for cap rate compression. One panellist commented that those who can manage assets better will generate alpha in a lower-growth, higher-risk world.

In conclusion, the tariffs pose high uncertainty for everyone, but not everyone is waiting for clarity on the ramifications. While decision making has slowed, the acknowledgment of uncertainty is leading some to explore opportunities in ‘safe havens’, and there is optimism for certain property sectors and potentially interesting alternative opportunities to investigate.

Find out more:

This article summarises just a few of the key takeaways from both exclusive global webinars.

ULI members will be able to access the full webinar recordings on ULI Knowledge Finder soon.

Get involved:

Join us at the forthcoming ULI Europe Conference in London (16-19 June 2025) for more focus on geopolitical events, in addition to macroeconomics, the latest trends across debt and equity markets, alternative investments, city leadership, urban innovation and development, creative and sustainable workplaces, decarbonisation, affordable and sustainable housing, and much more.

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