Who Invests in UK Property? BPF & CoStar Report

Published date:: 18 March 2026

Tags: Market Insights: Property & PropTech,; Industry Report,; Article

For PropTech founders, capital does more than finance buildings. It shapes what gets built, where development accelerates, which asset classes mature, and how quickly owners adopt new operational models.

The UK property industry contributes around £110 billion to the economy, approximately 5% of Gross Value Added, and supports one in 13 jobs. It is also highly open to global capital. Understanding who provides that capital, and how it is deployed, is essential for anyone building products for developers, landlords, operators, and institutional investors.

The BPF and CoStar report “Who Invests in Property” analyses overseas investment into UK property transactions since 2021, focusing on transaction “flow” rather than total stock of ownership. It provides a structured view of capital origins, investor types, sector allocation and geography. For PropTech companies, this offers insight into the structural shape of the market they are selling into.

What the Report Covers

Investor Types

The report breaks down cross-border investment by investor type between 2021–2024. Property companies and developers account for the largest share of total investment at £32.7 billion, followed by investment managers at £26.9 billion.

Private equity represents £14.6 billion over the period, while REITs, institutions and sovereign wealth funds account for £7.9 billion, £6.3 billion and £6.2 billion respectively.

This mix illustrates that while high-profile private equity transactions attract attention, long-term capital allocators remain structurally significant participants in the market.

Capital Sources

By jurisdiction, the United States is the dominant overseas investor. In 2024 alone, US investors deployed £13.6 billion, representing a record 33% share of all investment. Over the past four years, American investors have acquired £49.7 billion of UK commercial property, dwarfing other sources of capital.

The next largest investors between 2021–2024 were Singapore (£12.6 billion), Canada (£6.6 billion), Germany (£3.4 billion) and France (£2.7 billion). The report also notes that the US share of property investment exceeds its share of overall UK trade in goods and services.

Sector Allocation

Industrial and logistics, office and retail remain the traditional pillars of UK investment activity. Between 2021–2024, industrial accounted for 24% of investment by value, offices 23%, and retail 18%.

The living sectors, primarily Build-to-Rent (BTR) and other multifamily categories, represented 12% of total investment over the period. When considering overseas capital alone, this share rises to 16%, equating to approximately £15 billion of inward investment.

Retail has experienced renewed transaction activity following sharp repricing, while industrial and logistics volumes in 2024 were roughly half their 2021 levels, though the sector remains one of the most popular asset classes.

Data centres, despite significant attention, accounted for just 0.8% of transactions by value between 2021–2024.

Geographic Patterns

London continues to attract the largest share of cross-border investment, but volumes fell 45% below the 2021–2023 average to £11.4 billion in 2024.

Investment across the rest of the UK totalled £17.3 billion in 2024, 28% below the prior three-year average. The South East remains the preferred region outside London, though the North West and West Midlands have drawn substantial foreign capital, supported by industrial assets and growing living-sector markets.

Multi-region portfolio transactions are a significant channel for overseas capital, with around £13 billion spent on such deals in 2024, representing a 60% year-on-year increase and attracting more than 70% overseas participation.

Selected Key Insights

Several structural signals emerge from the data:

US capital dominance is sustained and concentrated, with £49.7 billion invested over four years.

Institutional and long-term capital allocators remain central, with property companies and investment managers accounting for the majority of activity.

Industrial and logistics remain structurally significant, even as transaction volumes have softened.

Living sectors are now established at scale, accounting for 12% of total investment and 16% of overseas investment.

Retail transaction activity has rebounded following repricing, particularly in retail parks and certain high streets.

Multi-region portfolios are a dominant entry route for global capital, enabling large-scale deployment of funds.

These are not cyclical observations but structural characteristics of the market over the past four years.

Why This Matters for PropTech

Capital allocation shapes demand for technology.

Alignment with capital flows matters: Where institutional capital is concentrated, there is typically greater emphasis on governance, data transparency, operational efficiency and long-term asset management. The prominence of property companies, investment managers and pension-backed capital in the living sectors suggests a continued need for tools supporting portfolio management, compliance and performance reporting.

Understanding institutional buyers is critical: US investors account for a disproportionately large share of UK property transactions. For PropTech firms, this implies that product positioning, reporting standards and integration expectations may increasingly reflect international institutional requirements.

Sector prioritisation influences opportunity: Industrial and logistics, living sectors and retail parks have attracted sustained or renewed capital flows. By contrast, offices have experienced declining volumes, particularly outside prime locations. Technology addressing operational resilience, supply-chain infrastructure, multifamily management and regeneration will likely intersect with capital-backed growth areas.

Portfolio-level transactions point to scale: Where multi-asset and multi-region portfolios dominate overseas inflows, scalable, interoperable solutions become more relevant than site-specific tools.

How Founders Can Use This Report

This report can support founders in several practical ways:

Fundraising conversations: Referencing the scale of US investment and institutional participation can demonstrate awareness of the capital base underpinning UK property markets.

Targeting investor-backed operators: Identifying asset classes with sustained transaction volumes, such as industrial, living and retail parks, can refine go-to-market strategies.

Market expansion decisions: Regional investment trends, including the strength of the North West and West Midlands, can inform geographic prioritisation.

Sector focus refinement: Understanding that living sectors account for a growing share of overseas capital can support product positioning within multifamily and BTR ecosystems.

Enterprise positioning: The prominence of investment managers and portfolio transactions suggests demand for technology capable of supporting multi-asset reporting and cross-regional visibility.

The data does not provide predictions. It provides evidence of where capital has been deployed since 2021.

For PropTech founders operating within the UK market, capital flows are not abstract statistics. They define the structure of opportunity.

The BPF and CoStar report offers a clear, transaction-based view of who is investing in UK property, where that investment originates, which asset classes attract capital, and how geography shapes deployment.

A full review of the report is recommended for founders seeking to align product strategy, investor conversations and market positioning with the realities of capital allocation in the UK property sector.