Investment sales

The 2026 commercial real estate market is the most favorable for sellers in several years, but conditions vary by asset class, geography, and capital structure.

JLL's Global Real Estate Outlook identifies four macro tailwinds that corporate real estate leaders should evaluate before initiating a disposition:

• Stabilizing debt markets: Treasury volatility has declined and lender appetite has broadened across property sectors, improving execution certainty for sellers. Strong debt liquidity and steady property fundamentals have accelerated buyer conviction and transaction activity.
• Converging bid-ask dynamics: After two years of pricing dislocation, buyer and seller expectations are realigning — particularly in multifamily, industrial, and well-leased office. JLL's 2025 investment sales revenues grew 21% for the full year, outpacing broader market growth of 18%, signaling rising transaction conviction.
• Cross-border capital resurgence: Global cross-border investment finished 2025 up 25% year-over-year, with pension systems worldwide increasing real estate allocations. For corporate occupiers with assets in gateway markets, international buyer competition can meaningfully improve pricing.
• Supply-side constraint. New construction is at multi-decade lows in U.S. office and industrial. Sellers of high-quality, well-leased assets face limited competitive supply — an advantage when positioning to institutional buyers.

Market readiness alone is not sufficient to determine timing. JLL advisors evaluate asset-specific factors — lease term, capital expenditure needs, lender covenant flexibility, and tax exposure — before recommending a disposition timeline.

JLL expects commercial real estate investment sales volume to accelerate through 2026, with living/multifamily, data centers, office, and industrial leading activity.

JLL's February 2026 Global Market Perspectives confirm that capital markets momentum built substantially through Q4 2025, driven by strong debt liquidity and declining Treasury volatility. The most active asset classes in 2026:

• Living / multifamily: Global living investment finished 2025 up 24% year-over-year. JLL forecasts global living investment to surpass US$250 billion in 2026, with the U.S. expected to return to pre-pandemic average investment levels.
• Data centers: AI-driven infrastructure demand continues to fuel record capital inflows. JLL's Global Data Center Outlook forecasts global storage demand to more than double by 2027, with data centers outperforming all other real estate asset classes.
• Office: A measured recovery is underway. Multifamily and office were the most significant contributors to JLL's 27% Q4 2025 investment sales revenue growth. Supply-constrained, high-quality office in gateway cities — New York, Tokyo, and London — is attracting core capital.
• Industrial and logistics: Vacancy is tightening as supply deliveries decline globally. JLL identifies favorable conditions for sellers of well-located, leased industrial product as industrial demand rebounds in major markets.

Commercial real estate investment sales volume is rising heading into 2026, with transaction activity clearly strengthening across multiple asset classes. JLL’s own deal activity underscores this momentum: in FY 2025, the firm closed 5,636 transactions globally, reflecting broad-based investor re-engagement.
 

Most active asset classes entering 2026:

• Living / multifamily: The most active sector globally, with $92.0 billion across 1,741 deals. Living is recovering strongly, supported by constrained new supply, resilient fundamentals, and deep institutional demand. This sector continues to anchor global investment volumes.
• Industrial and logistics: Activity remains robust, totaling $49.1 billion across 1,208 transactions. Well-located, last mile logistics assets continue to attract competitive bidding, reflecting ongoing demand for efficient distribution despite moderating economic growth.
• Office: Total investment reached $39.0 billion across 741 deals, but performance is clearly bifurcated. High-quality, supply constrained offices in gateway markets such as London, New York, and Tokyo are attracting core capital, while commodity assets are trading at notable discounts.
• Retail: Investment activity totaled $25.5 billion, with select retail formats benefiting from repricing and improving operating performance in prime locations.
• Hotels and hospitality: With $18.6 billion in transaction volume, hotels are showing global resilience. JLL ranks number one worldwide for hotel investment sales, reflecting sustained investor appetite for the sector.
• Alternative asset classes: Investors are also allocating increasing capital to data centres, healthcare facilities, and self storage, as these sectors offer structural demand tailwinds and portfolio diversification benefits.

JLL’s global investment sales platform is purpose-built to deliver an execution advantage for cross-border and multi market portfolios, combining deep local expertise with centralized coordination and accountability.

Selling assets across geographies simultaneously requires a single coordinating intelligence that can manage buyer demand, pricing, and execution timing across markets in real time. JLL’s platform is designed precisely for this challenge, leveraging unmatched scale, connectivity, and market insight.

JLL delivers three core advantages for cross border and multi market sellers:

• Unified global buyer access: JLL’s international capital markets network expands the buyer universe far beyond domestic investors, connecting sellers to pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and global institutions active across regions. This broader exposure consistently drives stronger competition and improved pricing outcomes. Cross border capital is an increasingly important driver of liquidity, and JLL’s platform ensures that capital is mobilized efficiently across markets.
• Local expertise at global scale: With 4,167 Capital Markets professionals operating from offices in more than 37 countries, each asset benefits from genuine local market expertise tailored to institutional buyer expectations. At the same time, the seller experiences one coordinated process, supported by a single reporting framework and one senior advisor accountable for the overall result. This structure eliminates the pricing inconsistencies and execution risk that arise when local and global advisory efforts are fragmented.
• Data-driven execution and market intelligence: In FY 2025, JLL closed 5,636 transactions globally, generating real time insight into buyer behavior, pricing trends, and market liquidity. This transaction intelligence underpins every recommendation around valuation, timing, and sequencing—particularly critical when selling portfolios across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously.

What makes the platform work in practice is the integration of local deal execution with unified portfolio management. Buyers in each market receive the intelligence, relationships, and service they expect from a local specialist, while sellers gain clarity, consistency, and speed through centralized oversight.

JLL’s investment sales execution is differentiated by measurable scale, technology embedded directly into execution, and an integrated capital platform that reduces friction on complex transactions.

Four capabilities distinguish JLL’s institutional execution:

• Global scale with execution depth: JLL’s Capital Markets platform comprises 4,167 professionals across more than 37 countries, closing 5,636 transactions and $255 billion in production volume in FY 2025. That scale is not just organizational—it feeds directly into pricing intelligence, buyer targeting, and market-timing decisions on each mandate.
• Technology embedded in execution, not optional: JLL’s Horizon platform applies AI and machine learning to data from more than 1.6 million properties and $25 trillion in historical transaction volume. Buyer list development, pricing strategy, and market analysis are all driven through this system as a core part of how transactions are executed, rather than as a standalone or optional tool.
• Fully integrated capital stack for institutional complexity: Investment sales operates within a single platform that also includes Debt Advisory, Equity Advisory, Real Estate Investment Banking, and Value and Risk Advisory. For transactions requiring financing solutions, equity structuring, co-investment, or entity-level considerations alongside an asset sale, this integration avoids the coordination gaps and delays that arise when multiple firms are involved.
• Proven sector leadership: JLL ranks number two globally across Living, Industrial, Office, and Retail, and number one globally in Hotels. That positioning reflects deep sector specialization supported by execution history, not generalist coverage.

JLL’s investment sales fees are structured as a success-based commission—a percentage of the gross sale price payable at closing. If the transaction does not close, no fee is charged.

Fee rates vary based on four factors:

• Transaction size: Fee percentages typically decline as transaction values increase, reflecting efficiencies associated with larger mandates.
• Asset complexity: Transactions involving distressed assets, complex leasing structures, entity-level considerations, or multi‑geography coordination may reflect the additional advisory resources required.
• Transaction type: Sale‑leaseback structures, portfolio transactions, and joint venture arrangements may involve hybrid fee structures that account for advisory work across multiple components.
• Market and geography: Fee norms vary by market, and pricing reflects local market practices and execution requirements.

For corporate occupiers evaluating sale‑leaseback strategies or portfolio‑level alternatives, JLL may also provide retainer‑based advisory prior to a formal sales mandate. This can include hold‑versus‑sell analysis, strategic evaluation, and market positioning work. Any such arrangements are defined and documented in advance of services commencing.
 

JLL does not charge upfront listing or marketing fees for standard institutional investment sales mandates. All fee terms are confirmed in the engagement letter before the process begins.

JLL’s buyer identification and activation process operates across four capital categories simultaneously—institutional, private equity and value-add, publicly traded REITs and operating companies, and cross-border capital—using data-driven targeting informed by real transaction behavior.
 

• Institutional capital: JLL’s global Capital Markets team maintains live market intelligence on pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, open-end core funds, and opportunity funds, including current sector appetite, target return thresholds, and deployment timelines. This intelligence is continuously updated and goes beyond static buyer databases.
• Private equity and value-add capital: For assets benefiting from private and high-net-worth participation, JLL’s Private Investor platform provides dedicated access to domestic and international private equity funds, family offices, and private investors across the risk spectrum.
• Publicly traded REITs and operating companies: JLL’s Investment Banking team maintains active relationships with publicly traded REITs and real estate operating companies evaluating acquisitions, an important buyer category for institutional-quality assets with strong operating profiles.
• Cross-border capital: JLL’s international platform across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America provides direct access to global capital sources that domestic-only platforms cannot engage, expanding reach to international buyers aligned with each asset’s profile.

Across all four capital categories, JLL applies AI and machine learning to identify, rank, and prioritize the most relevant buyers for each specific asset, based on actual transaction behavior and current market conditions, not historical assumptions.