The weak opening to 2026 follows a strong 2025, when overseas inflows rose 33% year-on-year to £27.2 billion — the fourth strongest year on record — representing a record 56% share of total UK commercial property investment.
The report showed that the US remained the dominant source, with investors deploying £18.2 billion, boosted by large-scale healthcare transactions including Welltower’s acquisitions of care home portfolios from Barchester Healthcare and HC-One. Build-to-rent investment reached a record £5.6 billion, while office investment recovered modestly as sentiment towards prime assets improved.
Domestic and foreign investment into UK commercial real estate 
Source: CoStar Group
“The UK continues to attract substantial international capital into real estate, reflecting the sector’s long-term strengths and the country’s reputation as a stable and transparent place to invest,” said Melanie Leech (pictured right), interim chief executive of Real Estate:UK. “The strong performance in 2025 demonstrated continued confidence in UK real estate, particularly in sectors such as healthcare, rental housing and operational assets.
“However, the significantly weaker start to 2026 highlights how sensitive international capital flows are to changes in the wider economic and geopolitical environment. Sterling’s appreciation against the dollar may also be eroding some of the pricing advantage that helped drive exceptionally strong US investment into UK real estate during 2025.