1. Saudi Arabia: Texas firm backs business hotel expansion
Texas-based Patel Family Office has signed a partnership agreement with Dammam, Saudi Arabia-based Abdelmalik Tariq Al-Qahtani Co., an affiliate of Abdel Hadi A. Al-Qahtani & Sons, to develop business hotels across Saudi Arabia.
The $1 billion agreement calls for up to 50 hotels bearing the names of international brands by 2029. Those would be completed “at scale” via new vertically integrated hospitality platform AYARA, the companies said. A partner at the Patel-owned firm said the venture is among Saudi Arabia’s largest single hotel investment deals to date.
2. UK: Healthcare real estate poised for more investment
Investor confidence in United Kingdom healthcare real estate remains resilient amid a widening investor pool, after a record-breaking year for transaction volumes in 2025. But allocation is becoming more selective, real estate services firm CBRE said in its latest annual United Kingdom healthcare sentiment survey report.
CBRE said sentiment across the healthcare real estate market continues to strengthen, with 68% of investors surveyed reporting they had increased their allocation to healthcare in 2025. Positive momentum is expected to continue throughout 2026 as a widening pool of real estate investors plan to expand their healthcare allocations.
3. France: Goldman sets ambitious roadmap for Urban Campus
A subsidiary of American financial services giant Goldman Sachs has established ambitious plans for further purchases of student housing and related residential properties in France, after its large investment in developer Urban Campus Group.
Goldman Sachs Alternatives is joining other investors to place €1.5 billion into student housing, backed by an investment of €550 million into Urban Campus by a Goldman-led fund. Goldman and its partners will collectively become majority shareholders and create a real estate entity dedicated to managed residential properties that house people age 18 to 50.
4. Germany: British investor buys business park
British investor Sirius Real Estate acquired a business park in Kiel, a state capital on the Baltic Sea, from Union Investment for about €93.4 million.
The main tenant of the property, spanning 78,170 square meters, is Rheinmetall, one of Germany’s leading defense contractors. The purchase price, including incidental acquisition costs, was about 10% below book value, according to regional data.
5. Canada: Ontario moves to cut taxes, fees on apartment construction
Ontario developers and apartment builders are set to see one of the largest tax rollbacks tied to new residential construction in the province, a move some officials say could cut costs by as much as $200,000 per unit for new rental and condominium projects.
Under a federal‑provincial agreement, Ottawa and Ontario said they will cut municipal development charges and remove the full 13% harmonized sales tax, or HST, on many new residential units. Ontario estimates the measures will provide $2.2 billion in tax relief and support thousands of new housing starts.
6. US: Here are Los Angeles markets awaiting an office comeback
Technology giants including Google and Meta helped drive a wave of office development in specific Los Angeles pockets before the pandemic, as landlords rushed to build and repurpose space to keep up with rapid tech hiring.
Now, after a decade and a real estate cycle that saw these tech firms give back large blocks of space, the neighborhoods that felt the boom are dealing with the bust.
This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.