Summary
The roundtable looks at the major themes influencing cross-border property investment in 2025. Discussions will cover market trends, how investors can manage regulatory and tax complexity, and ways to build resilience against shifting economic and political conditions. The panel will also explore the importance of collaboration between different advisers and share practical advice for investors considering opportunities this year.
Participants
- Matt Watson, Chief Executive Officer at TENN
- Victoria Blackburn, Director, JTC Private Office
- Ben Thomason, Head of Debt Advisory – EMEA, Colliers
- Andy Kirkham, Partner at Squire Patton Boggs
Questions
What do you see as the most significant trends shaping cross-border property investment in 2025, and how should investors prepare to take advantage of these opportunities?
Matt Watson, Chief Executive Officer at TENN
Global migration and the concept that wealth has wings. If a HNWI or UHNWI doesn’t like what’s going on in any given country, they will move elsewhere. We’re seeing this in the UK, where there’s been an exodus of wealth to countries like Dubai, Italy, Spain and Monaco – in 2025 alone, a record-breaking 142,000 millionaires are projected to relocate internationally, with the UK expected to see the largest net outflow of HNWIs ever recorded, with 16,500 millionaires leaving. On the flip side, the UAE is set to attract a net inflow of 9,800 millionaires, while Switzerland (+3,000), Italy (+3,600), Portugal (+1,400) and Greece (+1,200) are also major beneficiaries due to favourable tax regimes and investment migration programs. A split is emerging, with some countries looking to raise revenue through tax increases while others are looking to welcome HNWIs and what they bring – they’re attracting them with things like tax breaks and fixed tax contributions. This creates plenty of opportunities to profit from these trends and those with spare capital should absolutely look at deploying it into prime and super prime property assets in these welcoming countries who in turn will benefit from a rising property market.
Victoria Blackburn, Director, JTC Private Office
We are seeing a growing demand for institutional-grade structures and governance, which is primarily driven by increasing numbers of sophisticated and globally mobile investors. Rising regulatory scrutiny, ESG/CSR requirements, and the increased complexity of alternative assets, like private credit, are pushing investors to think beyond traditional structures and to convert more efficient and flexible vehicles like private funds or umbrella companies. Emerging markets and secondary cities are drawing more of this capital as investors seek long-term opportunities from different sources which often include superior digital infrastructure. Focusing early on flexible and efficient structuring with experienced partners helps investors navigate the evolving regulatory standards and reporting requirements. Service providers that demonstrate both local agility and a thorough understanding of global regulatory requirements are the best positioned to help investors capitalise on the next phase of cross-border real estate growth.
Ben Thomason, Head of Debt Advisory – EMEA, Colliers
Capital remains readily available to invest, but there often remains a mismatch between a seller’s valuation and buyers. Geo-political risks remain at the forefront of many investors’ minds, driving investments decision accordingly. The widening inflation gap between the US and Europe/UK has had a significant impact on interest rates, the UK suffering perhaps the worst. The recent rise in interest rate expectations has not been kind to UK property equities, with the NAREIT price index currently down 18% y/y, expectations are now for capital growth for the year of just under 4%.
Investors seem to be very much focussed on PBSA, Residential (selectively) and Offices where there continues to be strong rent growth as occupiers seek a higher quality offering. Perhaps the greatest inflow of capital has been to debt funds that offer strong risk adjusted returns with the ability to act selectively across the asset classes and capital stack.
Andy Kirkham, Partner at Squire Patton Boggs
The most significant trends that we see shaping cross-border investment are economic and geo-political related. The inflationary pressures in the UK economy, high real estate prices and changes in legislation, coupled with relatively modest levels of returns are making investors look to other jurisdictions for investment. A number of European countries continue to thrive. In addition, our real estate colleagues in the UAE and Singapore continue to buck the trend with a strong flow of mandates from investors.
Investors can take advantage of opportunities by tracking performance of asset classes closely and taking advantage of the competitive debt providers supporting their strategies.
Cross-border investment often comes with layers of regulatory, tax, and operational complexity. What strategies are most effective in simplifying these challenges for global investors?
Matt Watson, Chief Executive Officer at TENN
Working with high level corporate services providers is a must, especially in the areas of regulatory, tax, legal and financing. These specialists will allow you to structure accordingly for buying the asset – as I like to say, it’s important to know the plumbing works correctly – and ensure these complexities don’t become pitfalls. All the businesses on this roundtable have the high-level expertise that HNWIs and UHNWIs need to navigate the minefield of regulations, tax and operational complexity that comes with making cross-border investments, especially in property. This is why applications for top-tier investment migration programs have doubled between 2022 and 2025, reflecting the surge in demand for professional structuring and compliance support.
Victoria Blackburn, Director, JTC Private Office
Number one is finding the right partners. The regulatory world is becoming increasingly complex and so first, we’d say find a partner who can help navigate this landscape for you, make the right introductions and then pull it all together. You don’t have to have deal only with one firm and sometimes it is advisable not to, but this coordinator, or in the crudest sense ‘fixer’, can make sure you get the right advice at the right time, match project expectations, fees, reporting requirements and personalities to ensure you have a seamless service. This person should also be good at spotting any gaps or omissions and ask pertinent questions to make sure that investors are getting what they need at the right time and for the right fee. Investors need someone who understands things on a macro level and also the finite details at local and micro levels. Enter your expert generalist.
Ben Thomason, Head of Debt Advisory – EMEA, Colliers
The right advisors are key to risk management, as many countries face shortfalls in their budgets, many are looking to taxes to plug the gap. Therefore, advisors must have local experience.
Operational risk is often highest in emerging economies or asset classes; the flip side is this is often where the greatest returns can be found. Therefore, an advisor may not be a single firm, local partners working in conjunction with global firms is often important.
We do see an ever-reducing pool of investment houses as capital migrates to the biggest firms with the greatest spread of global talent, deals are fewer but larger giving investment opportunities at an institutional level.
Andy Kirkham, Partner at Squire Patton Boggs
We see investors navigating such issues with a range of available tools including: (i) ensuring that they instruct the right advisors to provide them with advice. A firm such as SPB can assist them effectively due to our global presence and we can assist them navigate such areas by ensuring the correct legal structure is created from the outset and carrying out high level due diligence; (ii) focussing on developing markets where they can take advantage of development incentive schemes; (iii) using technology to ensure that procedural items are standardised and (iv) having a plan on how to exit and/or create value for the future and revisiting that plan on a regular basis to ensure that they do not fall foul of any legal or regulatory changes.
Geopolitical shifts, interest rate changes, and evolving regulations all add risk to global real estate strategies. How can investors build resilience into their cross-border portfolios?
Matt Watson, Chief Executive Officer at TENN
The world is fast moving away from its uni-polar past to being multi-polar, and this is why we are seeing such big shifts and differences in things like interest rates – even in larger, more stable economies, the interest rate variance can be significant. The way to insulate from this is to be a citizen of the world and be open to having assets in different jurisdictions. Indeed, the number of HNWIs seeking dual residency or second citizenship has grown by more than 200% in the past year, as investors look to mitigate risks from political and tax changes. This is the best way to mitigate against single country risk while opening up and taking advantage of new opportunities. It’s clear which countries are doing well right now and those that are struggling, so it’s easy to determine where capital should be deployed. The world is more connected than it’s ever been, so building resilience via a cross-border portfolio can be done.
Victoria Blackburn, Director, JTC Private Office
Currency exposure should be a central consideration, since overseas cash flows, such as dividends, may be received in local currencies. Assessing whether to retain these funds for reinvestment or convert them to currencies offering higher interest or matching your liabilities can strengthen returns, while also requiring careful attention to transaction costs and foreign exchange risk.
Debt structuring is equally critical. When financing international real estate, investors must ensure that the currency of the debt aligns with the currency of their underlying income, such as rent. Mismatches introduce FX risk, so investors should continually evaluate whether to convert income at each loan payment or use hedging instruments to protect against currency fluctuations. Likewise, variable rate products can provide added flexibility, adapting quickly as interest rates change and impacting both debt costs and asset values.
Transactions such as 1031 exchanges in the US, often involve several parties and currencies; coordination across stakeholders ensures that sale proceeds and repurchase strategies are aligned, minimising conversion losses.
Ben Thomason, Head of Debt Advisory – EMEA, Colliers
Geopolitical risks are perhaps the greatest they have ever been, worldwide governments are grappling to manage tariffs from the US. The UK, Starmer and Reeves are already facing challenges that would make the job of stabilising the public finances even more difficult.
All of the above highlights the need for diversification and appropriate currency and interest rate hedging. While there is a great deal of spread between global rates, investors should focus on where income is derived. If there is currency exposure, this should be managed, hedging options are becoming ever more sophisticated and can allow investors to manage the downside risks across multiple currencies.
Inflation has not gone away and whilst interest rates are expected to fall throughout 2026, they could well be volatile, and investors should not bank on stable low interest rates long-term without protection.
Andy Kirkham, Partner at Squire Patton Boggs
Investors can build resilience by ensuring that they have a structured approach which takes into account diversification. This includes asset class, jurisdictional and currency/interest diversification.
An often-overlooked element is the latter, and we often see that many investors fail to hedge interest rates or foreign exchange rates. It’s always worth remembering that real estate, like any market runs in cycles and different jurisdictions are at different stages of that cycle at any time.
Understanding the local real estate market in a particular jurisdiction will help investors maximise growth and returns and plan a robust strategy to ensure that they are successful in achieving their objectives.
Successful cross-border deals usually require coordination between investors, advisors, legal experts, and financiers. In your view, what does effective collaboration look like in 2025?
Matt Watson, Chief Executive Officer at TENN
You must have really good people in each of those buckets who know what they’re doing. There are plenty of mistakes we see people make on a regular basis, and this usually comes from initially going with the cheapest option. The way I see it, if you buy cheap, you buy twice. For me, effective collaboration comes down to bringing together the right people, those with experience of dealing with cross border finance, regulations, laws, taxes and so on, and that have a deep understanding of the nuances of the locations involved.
Victoria Blackburn, Director, JTC Private Office
Again, this is where your expert generalist can act as a coordinator and pull together the right team of people. Success relies on everyone playing their part but crucially not overstating their abilities, nor overstepping their remit. Sometimes advisers stray into territory they are not too familiar with either through ego or client pressure as the client trusts them and likes to keep a tight inner circle. Learning to say no, is important. Ask the right questions, pull together the best answers and have advisers who appreciate the skills each person brings to the table to make a collective formula that works. As the client you should be at the centre of it all, your advisers are in place to find a solution that works for you, not an ‘off the shelf’ option but one that is well thought through and relevant to your needs alone.
Ben Thomason, Head of Debt Advisory – EMEA, Colliers
Early engagement with everyone. The best opportunities are often for those who are able to move the quickest and execute accordingly. Early engagement with everyone ensures all parties are aligned and working together, disjointed teams often fail to execute in this market and lose out.
As deals have become bigger and more complex, this has meant a greater exposure to cross-border opportunities. We are seeing investors target certain asset classes but across multiple countries and currencies, this allows quicker deployment, greater diversification. This does take real focus and team collaboration. However, this has perhaps never been easier with the advances in AI and changes in emerging technologies.
Andy Kirkham, Partner at Squire Patton Boggs
Since COVID, cross-border deals have never been easier to execute. Whilst many jurisdictions still have their nuances, the ability to communicate via Teams and Zoom and execute legal documents via DocuSign and other similar electronic signing platforms has created a new and a more efficient way closing transactions. However, effective collaboration still requires a mutual trust between the parties, clear communication and a shared vision that we are all working towards a common goal. Thankfully there has been a shift in attitudes on transactions and we no longer see stakeholders and advisors who may have competing interests create unnecessary tension.
If you had one piece of advice for high-net-worth or institutional clients considering cross-border property investment this year, what would it be?
Matt Watson, Chief Executive Officer at TENN
Do it. Fifty years ago, you could make very good money with a low barrier to entry to building a significant property portfolio in a single location. But now with the divergence of politics and economics, those with a single jurisdiction portfolio expose themselves to a high degree of risk. That’s why real estate-based investments tied to permanent residency or citizenship are now a strategic imperative for wealth preservation and mobility. If you like the property asset class, there are pockets of the world doing well, and it’s in these pockets you should be deploying your capital. The caveat to that is it must be done in a professional way and with the guidance and support of experienced experts and specialists – take that approach, and you’ll almost fully mitigate the single country risk.
Victoria Blackburn, Director, JTC Private Office
If I had to pick one key piece of advice: prioritise the upfront structuring & exit strategy almost equally as your entry. Do your homework early and find the right partners to help with tax, regulation, local knowledge, ESG/CSR and build flexibility into your investment structure (exit options, ownership vehicles etc.). Concurrently think about succession and family governance. Entrepreneurs can witness explosive growth of their business, and it is important to investigate early on how you want the business to grow, be passed on (or sold) and also how this increased liquidity would affect family life and dynamics. The market, like life, moves fast, regulations change, and what seems attractive at purchase may become burdensome at exit without structuring and advice that allows you to pivot when needed.
Ben Thomason, Head of Debt Advisory – EMEA, Colliers
Be prepared to hold for the medium to long-term and ride the highs and lows, listen to your tenants and don’t forget to adapt and move with their requirements. Tenants, whether that be a student, residential office or hotel guests are looking for so much more now and are not afraid to move and move quickly. A empty, passively managed building becomes so much more difficult to finance, often requires greater capex and at worst becomes obsolete. Finance is cheaper and easier source where buildings are actively managed through a rolling programme of investment that can point to strong occupation and demand.
Look for trends outside of property before deciding how they will impact the future of property and then make your investment decisions. This is where some of the highest returns will be made.
ESG and the Environment has not gone away, despite the scepticism from certain North American leaders, it is the focus of lenders and tenants alike.
Finally global families should be very aware of succession planning, with the focus on raising taxes for governments globally, inheritance tax is often the easiest target. Lenders also want to limit keyman risk, succession plans can often be key.
Andy Kirkham, Partner at Squire Patton Boggs
My advice would be to expect a certain level of financing for capital expenditure on any asset acquired particularly with the shift towards ESG, sustainable financing and net zero. We have seen fundamental changes in this area over the last 5 years across all of our established markets and a push towards making all real estate assets more efficient and environmentally friendly. Whilst lenders are making strides into ensuring their borrowers comply with the latest regulations and have embedded themselves in trade associations and industry groups, we often see many borrowers are only just becoming aware of the obligations placed on them in this area. Navigating such issues can be difficult without seeking the correct advice early on in the transaction.