24 June 2026, Amsterdam – The total European real estate investment universe surpasses the €2.0 trillion threshold, confirming its scale as an institutional asset class, according to new joint research published today by INREV and EPRA, Europe’s leading real estate industry associations.
The new paper brings together detailed analysis for both European listed and non-listed real estate for the first time. It clearly highlights the symbiotic relationship between the two components of the universe which, combined, offer institutional investors substantial benefit as part of a multi-asset portfolio.
European listed and non-listed real estate both provide access to the same underlying asset class – European commercial property – but through fundamentally different ownership structures, liquidity profiles and governance frameworks. Each market has carved its own distinct path to institutional maturity over the past two decades.
Listed and non-listed real estate have grown considerably over 20 years. On a NAV-adjusted implied GAV basis, listed has expanded from €199 billion in 2005 to approximately €971 billion in 2025. The full non-listed market (including comingled equity funds, debt funds, separate accounts, JVs and club vehicles and direct holdings) grew from a total GAV of around €219 billion to €1.03 trillion over the same period, of which equity funds account for around €519 billion.
The growth of European real estate is a story of capital flows and market infrastructure. The paper cites professionalisation, standardisation, governance and the establishment of robust infrastructure and data – spearheaded by the two associations – as the key forces behind the continued evolution and maturity of both components of Europe’s overall real estate universe. Together, these two organisations converted both channels from fragmented, local markets into transparent asset classes.
Lower leverage is key: structural reset
The paper also highlights how, having climbed steadily before the 2008 financial crisis, leverage in non-listed and listed has declined and stabilised. Though levels are not directly comparable, directionally the structural reset has been very similar: non-listed leverage fell from its peak of 38.9% in 2009 to 24.6% at the end of 2025, while listed dropped from 44.0% to 38.7% over the same period. The reset is structural not merely cyclical and even during the severe macro test of the 2022-2024 rate shock loan to value ratios (LTVs) lifted mainly through denominator effects but did not trigger a widespread leverage unwind. This means that lower leverage is now embedded in the funding model, reporting framework and governance expectations for real estate overall.
However, headline averages conceal wide sector and country differences. Retail is the highest leveraged sector in both listed and non-listed. At the other end of the spectrum, industrial/logistics is the lowest leveraged sector in listed, while residential holds the lowest leverage in non-listed.
Similarly, country-level leverage ratios diverge sharply across European markets. In 2025, listed real estate recorded the UK as having the lowest country LTV ratio at 30% compared with Germany at 45%, while for non-listed the equivalent ratios were 5% and 32.8%, respectively. This reflects a considerably broader spread than sector and property composition can account for alone. The dispersion is better explained by national funding culture and the structure of the investor base. A high or low national average is a signal to interpret and a structure to understand, not a ranking of property market risk.
The key focus and takeaway is that while sector and country-level leverage is informative, it is insufficient on its own. What investors need to consider for the next cycle is that the leverage risk is now more granular. The key questions have shifted from how much debt a vehicle carries to where that debt sits, when it matures, how it’s hedged and how liquid the underlying assets are.
Complementary routes to market
Listed and non-listed share a number of common characteristics. At a sector-level portfolios have rotated sharply away from retail and offices since 2012. Residential is now the largest sector for both, while retail has halved – reflecting the structural shift driven by e-commerce, hybrid working and sustained capital allocation towards sectors with stronger long-term demand fundamentals.
At a country-level, Germany has displaced the UK as the largest market exposure. The routes to market, however, are different and complementary. For the non-listed component, the shift reflects capital allocation through diversified funds, while listed is driven by the scale of residential consolidation among large German platforms.
More broadly, the paper highlights the significant complementarity between the two components. Listed real estate offers liquid access to specialist operators and faster sector rotation. Non-listed funds provide diversified multi-country core exposure that is slower-moving and driven more by capital allocation.
Iryna Pylypchuk, Director of Research and Market Information at INREV, commented: “This paper is an important articulation of the scale and composition of the overall European real estate universe. Listed and non-listed markets have evolved through successive property cycles. They are complementary instruments tuned to the same market, and an investor who draws on both commands a fuller, more representative European real estate universe than either can offer alone. What it adds up to is the opportunity for investors to gain more diversified and greater total exposure to the asset class, as part of a multi-asset portfolio.”
David Moreno, Indexes Manager at EPRA, added: “Our research with INREV demonstrates that the listed and non-listed sectors are complementary routes into the same underlying universe of institutional-quality real estate in Europe and should not be regarded as separate asset classes. For investors either one provides a certain portfolio exposure, while a combination of the two offers the broadest and most representative allocation to the opportunities available in European real estate. This is particularly relevant in the current investment environment, where we are moving away from low interest rates.”
This inaugural joint paper comes on the back of a longstanding collaboration between INREV and EPRA. It is the first of what will become an annual update on the combined listed and non-listed components of the total European real estate universe. The two associations will also be publishing additional joint papers on an ad-hoc basis, focusing on specific elements of the total universe in more detail.
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Notes to Editors
About INREV
INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles, represents the interests of an established industry valued at €3.8 trillion. The association’s 526 members collectively contribute €385 billion of stimulus to the real economy of Europe.
Members include 131 of the largest institutional investors – accounting for 26% of the total membership – as well as investment managers, banks and advisors.
INREV is focused on increasing the transparency and accessibility of non-listed real estate vehicles, promoting professionalism and best practice, and sharing knowledge. It also engages closely with policymakers on key issues affecting the industry. The non-profit association is based in Amsterdam and Brussels.
For further information, please contact:
- Johlyn da Prato, johlyn.daprato@inrev.org | +31 (0) 621397456
- Justin St Clair-Charles, inrevteam@firstlightgroup.io | +44 (0) 7769 644 059
- Freddie Fitzgerald, inrevteam@firstlightgroup.io | +44 (0) 7458 643 604
About EPRA
EPRA’s mission is to promote, develop and represent the European public real estate sector. We achieve this through the provision of better information to investors and stakeholders, active involvement in the public and political debate, promotion of best practices and the cohesion and strengthening of the industry. With more than 280 members, covering the whole spectrum of the listed real estate industry (companies, investors and other sector participants), EPRA represents over €880 billion of real estate assets and over 95% of the market capitalisation of the FTSE EPRA Nareit Europe Index.
For further information, please contact:
- Roxana Caba, r.caba@epra.com | +32 2 739 1010
- Simon Packard, simon.packard@headlionconsulting.com | +44 7701 089844
^The Gross Asset Value of the European non-listed real estate universe includes both equity and debt structures, such as funds, separate accounts, club vehicles and joint ventures, and direct holdings. The European listed real estate market size is measured on a NAV-adjusted implied GAV basis. This is a more relevant measure to approximate property exposure than the market capitalisation as a commonly reported measure.