1. Russia: Hotel investment wanes amid tourism slowdown
After years of consistent growth, hospitality markets in Moscow and St. Petersburg are facing stagnation as hotel investment activity nears its lowest ebb.
Analysts said domestic tourism, which has remained a backbone of Russia’s hotel industry during years of political isolation, is also weakening. During the first half of 2025, Moscow posted a 3.2% drop in occupancy at branded hotels, the first such decline since 2019, according to real estate business advisory Nikoliers.
2. UK: Property deals poised for rebound in 2026
After a roller-coaster year for United Kingdom commercial real estate sales, optimism is returning as transactions get closed in an ever-wider array of categories and locations.
CoStar’s U.K. analysts predicted that 2025 commercial deals were on track to broadly match the prior year in transaction volume. By mid-December, Savills was forecasting £50 billion in trades for the year, thanks to “continued uncertainty,” but said 2026 should see at least a 10% increase to £55 billion.
3. France: Venture acquires prominent office campuses near Paris
Investment firm Covivio formed a joint venture with Blue Owl Capital to own three office campuses occupied by defense and technology firm Thales in the Vélizy-Meudon area, south of Paris.
A transaction expected to close in the first half of 2026 values the properties at €503 million, above the appraised value at the end of 2024. It is expected to generate proceeds of €138 million for Covivio as it sells off a portion of its current stake in the portfolio, according to sources.
4. Germany: Office leasing holds steady despite rising vacancy
About 2.6 million square meters were leased during 2025 in Germany’s seven largest office rental markets, on par with the prior year, even as vacancy rates increased in several major cities.
According to the GPP broker network, Frankfurt and Cologne posted significant year-over-year growth in office space take-up, while leasing fell in other cities like Stuttgart and Berlin. Vacancy rates rose across the board, with the sharpest increases in Berlin and Hamburg.
5. Canada: How much housing does country need? It depends on whom you ask.
The stalled redevelopment of Montreal’s Bridge-Bonaventure sector, a stretch of aging warehouses and industrial lots where consultations began nearly a decade ago, reflects Canada’s struggle to add housing as two federal studies present widely differing estimates of how much the country needs.
Similar delays can be seen in Toronto’s Port Lands revitalization and Vancouver’s False Creek Flats redevelopment. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., or CMHC, put the number of new homes needed across Canada over the next decade at roughly 5 million while the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, estimates that 3.2 million new residences are required.
6. US: Biggest AI data centers take root in some unexpected places
In Kuna, Idaho, residents are reacting with conflicting emotions to their new neighbors: sprawling data campuses that take up land and power.
The small town outside Boise is one of many rural areas getting transformed across the United States as real estate and technology firms seek sparsely populated regions with little competition for the energy and cooling waters needed to power the artificial intelligence boom. Kuna is home to a giant new data center underway for Facebook parent Meta.
This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.