Advisory boutiques reshape real estate deal flow and challenge major banks in 2026

The rise of boutiques as deal flow drivers in Brazilian real estate

The Brazilian real estate market is undergoing a structural inflection in 2026. The combination of a high Selic rate, the implementation of tax reform via Complementary Law 214/2025, and regulatory updates under CVM Resolution 175 has created an environment where legal, tax, and financial structuring capability has become the primary competitive differentiator for closing transactions. Access to cheap capital is no longer the determining factor. In this scenario, investment boutiques, specialized law firms, and independent advisors are capturing mandates that have historically been concentrated in large institutional banks.

This reconfiguration of real estate deal flow represents a profound shift in the transaction value chain. Firms such as Ilion Partners, Amatuzzi Advogados, and professionals like Adriano Sartori and Diogo Prosdocimi exemplify distinct yet complementary profiles of intermediaries gaining prominence by offering something large institutions frequently fail to deliver: operational proximity to the asset, speed of execution, and granular regulatory expertise.

The central thesis of this analysis is straightforward: the real estate intermediation ecosystem in Brazil is decentralizing, and the boutiques that master the new regulatory complexity will be the primary deal pipeline builders over the next decade.

Why are investment boutiques capturing mandates previously concentrated in major banks?

The answer lies in three simultaneous vectors: growing regulatory complexity, demand for sector specialization, and speed of execution.

Complementary Law 214/2025, which regulates the tax reform and implements the dual VAT (IBS/CBS), changed the taxation of real estate companies and lease agreements starting in 2026. This shift requires a thorough reassessment of corporate structures, investment vehicles, and pricing models. For developers, real estate funds, and institutional investors, choosing an advisor is no longer a marginal decision—it has become a strategic one with direct impact on investment returns.

Simultaneously, updates to CVM Resolution 175, focusing on structural standardization and asset segregation by class in Real Estate Investment Funds (FIIs), added an additional layer of sophistication to vehicle structuring. Public consultations scheduled for 2026 are expected to further increase this complexity, according to GRI Hub analyses.

In this context, boutiques like Ilion Partners demonstrate how sector specialization generates concrete competitive advantage. Since 2014, Ilion Partners has invested in 23 projects, totaling 130,000 sqm of built area and asset value exceeding R$ 700 million, according to GRI Institute data. Its focus on retrofit and multifamily represents a precise investment thesis requiring detailed operational knowledge of construction feasibility, urban planning regulation, and localized demand dynamics. This operational granularity is the type of competency that large investment banks, driven by volume and diversification, rarely replicate with the same depth.

Sector specialization has moved beyond niche status and established itself as a structural advantage in Brazilian real estate intermediation. Boutiques that master specific theses—whether in logistics, hospitality, or residential-for-income—can price risks more accurately and accelerate the origination cycle.

What role do specialized law firms and independent advisors play in the new transaction dynamics?

If investment boutiques are reshaping origination, specialized law firms and independent advisors are reconfiguring execution.

Amatuzzi Advogados, a boutique law firm founded in 2014 with a transactional focus on real estate and construction, exemplifies this trend. Recognized in rankings such as Chambers and Partners and Legal 500, the firm occupies a strategic position in the value chain: the convergence point between deal legal structuring and post-reform tax viability. In a market where LC 214/2025 requires restructuring of lease agreements, revision of SPEs, and adaptation of investment vehicles to the new tax regime, firms with this specialized transactional profile become indispensable at the negotiation table.

Qualified real estate intermediation in 2026 requires a tripod of competencies: operational knowledge of the asset, financial sophistication, and regulatory expertise. This is precisely the profile that characterizes independent advisors such as Diogo Prosdocimi, Nader Fares, and Alan Zelazo, identified by GRI Hub as hybrid professionals who combine these three dimensions. Unlike executives at large institutions, whose actions are constrained by corporate structures and internal compliance policies, these dealmakers operate with the autonomy to design bespoke solutions, tailoring the transaction structure to the specificities of each asset and each counterparty.

Adriano Sartori's trajectory at CBRE illustrates how scale and specialization can coexist when there is consistent sector leadership. Under his presidency, assumed in 2024, CBRE's Brazilian operation has accumulated, over 30 years, more than R$ 30 billion in asset sales and generated over R$ 47 billion in leasing revenue, according to Bloomberg Línea data. These figures reflect a robust institutional platform, but Sartori's relevance in the intermediation ecosystem transcends the operation's size: his ability to shape markets and establish pricing benchmarks in segments such as corporate offices and logistics warehouses positions him as a reference for the sector.

How does the new regulatory infrastructure expand boutiques' advantage?

Demand for sophisticated structuring and qualified intermediation in Brazilian real estate will grow significantly in 2026, driven by the high Selic rate, tax reform, and new CVM rules, according to GRI Hub projections. This trend is not cyclical. It represents a structural shift in the competency profile required to originate, structure, and execute real estate transactions.

An additional element deserves attention: the implementation of the Brazilian Real Estate Registry (CIB), which will expand property traceability across the national territory. According to GRI Hub analysis, dealmakers and boutiques that master this new database will have a significant advantage in deal origination, identifying opportunities with greater speed and precision. The CIB represents an information infrastructure that disproportionately benefits smaller, more agile players capable of converting raw data into investment theses before large institutions complete their internal approval cycles.

This dynamic reinforces a trend observed in meetings and discussions hosted by GRI Institute: the decentralization of real estate deal flow is not a passing phenomenon but a permanent reorganization of the intermediation chain.

The new map of real estate intermediation

The real estate intermediation ecosystem in Brazil in 2026 is organized around three complementary profiles that are reshaping the transaction flow.

First, investment boutiques with defined sector theses, like Ilion Partners, that combine proprietary capital with structuring capability and operate with short decision cycles. Second, specialized transactional law firms, like Amatuzzi Advogados, that master the contractual and tax engineering required by the new regulatory framework. Third, independent advisors and brokers with hybrid profiles, like Diogo Prosdocimi and Adriano Sartori, who act as connectors between capital, assets, and regulation.

These three profiles share a common characteristic: they operate with informational advantages and execution speed that major banks, constrained by hierarchical structures and longer approval processes, find difficult to match.

The competitive differentiator in Brazilian real estate intermediation has definitively shifted from the balance sheet to intellectual capital. Those who master regulatory complexity, know the asset in depth, and can structure the transaction with agility capture the mandate.

For real estate leaders who are part of the GRI Institute community, this reconfiguration demands strategic reflection: choosing the intermediary has become as determinant for transaction success as choosing the asset itself. In a market where LC 214/2025 and CVM 175 are rewriting the rules of the game, intermediation sophistication is increasingly the factor that separates successful transactions from missed opportunities.

GRI Institute will continue monitoring this transformation through its sector research and leadership gatherings, mapping how the decentralization of deal flow is redefining competitiveness in Brazilian real estate.