The living assets allocation shift: why Southern Europe's gathering circuit now shapes institutional residential capital

A structural reallocation is underway, and it has a geography

The European living sector is no longer an emerging allocation. It is the dominant one. According to JLL, living assets formed 30% of direct real estate investment across EMEA in 2025, remaining the largest sector for the second consecutive year. Cushman & Wakefield data confirms that European living investment volumes reached approximately €59 billion in 2025, the strongest annual outcome since 2023. And the trajectory remains steep: JLL projects living investment transactional volumes will sustain average annual growth of 10–15% through 2026.

Within this continental reallocation, Southern Europe has emerged as the gravitational centre. CBRE data shows that cross-border investors increasingly favour the region for living strategies, with Italy and Spain recording overall real estate investment volume increases of 36% and 30% respectively in 2025. The supply-demand imbalance in student housing alone illustrates the structural opportunity: according to M&G, Italy has 2.1 million students competing for 85,000 beds, Spain has 1.8 million students for 120,000 beds, and Portugal has 450,000 students for just 16,000 beds.

These are the conditions that produce institutional conviction. What remains less examined, however, is the infrastructure through which that conviction converts into deployed capital.

How does capital formation actually happen in Southern European living assets?

Institutional real estate capital does not flow through abstractions. It flows through relationships, structured around trust, built over repeated interactions in environments designed for decision-makers. The distinction matters enormously in a sector where the living assets thesis is now widely understood, yet execution remains fragmented across national regulatory regimes, local operating models, and varied risk profiles.

Southern Europe presents a particular challenge in this regard. Unlike the mature multifamily markets of Germany, the Netherlands, or Scandinavia, the living sector in Italy, Spain, and Portugal is still being institutionalised. Operators are scaling. Regulatory frameworks are evolving, shaped by the European Affordable Housing Plan and the ongoing national transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1275 on energy performance of buildings, both of which carry direct implications for capital allocation and asset strategies in urban multifamily real estate. Cross-border investors entering these markets require more than a thesis; they require counterparties they can evaluate in person, in settings calibrated for candid exchange.

This is the context in which dedicated gathering circuits have assumed a function that goes well beyond networking. GRI Institute's living assets gatherings, including the GRI Living Assets Southern Europe 2026 scheduled for April 29 in Madrid, operate as curated deal-making environments where capital allocators, operators, developers, and lenders converge around specific asset classes and geographies. The gathering format, designed for senior principals rather than large conference audiences, creates the conditions for pipeline development that bilateral meetings or generic industry conferences struggle to replicate.

The evidence of demand is visible in engagement patterns. GRI Institute's internal analytics show that the Living Assets Southern Europe event page ranks among the top 10 most visited pages across the entire Real Estate Europe division, drawing traffic volumes comparable to established country-level events such as Italia GRI and Portugal GRI. This is a meaningful signal: institutional audiences are not merely researching the living thesis in the abstract, they are actively seeking the specific infrastructure through which Southern European residential deals are being formed.

Why are gathering circuits becoming pipeline infrastructure for residential strategies?

The answer lies in the nature of the capital itself. Mordor Intelligence projects that European operational real estate investors plan to deploy EUR 51 billion over three years into living assets between 2026 and 2028. Cushman & Wakefield survey data indicates that 96% of institutional investors expect to increase their exposure to the European living sector over the next five years. These are not tentative allocations. They represent a structural shift in portfolio construction.

Capital of this scale and intentionality requires infrastructure that matches its ambition. Three dynamics explain why curated gathering circuits, rather than traditional conference formats, have become the decisive mechanism.

First, the living sector's operational complexity demands sustained relationship architecture. Build-to-rent, purpose-built student accommodation, co-living, and senior housing each carry distinct operating models, tenant profiles, and regulatory considerations. A single annual conference cannot service the depth of engagement that cross-border capital formation in these sub-sectors requires. A gathering circuit that tracks capital across multiple touchpoints throughout the year provides the continuity that institutional relationships demand.

Second, Southern Europe's institutional immaturity in living assets means that the market-making function itself is still being performed. In a market like Germany or the UK, multifamily investment benefits from decades of institutional precedent, established benchmarks, and deep broker intermediation. In Italy, Spain, and Portugal, much of the institutional living market is being built in real time. The gathering circuit functions as a market-making layer, connecting first-movers with local operators, helping to establish the norms and structures that will define these markets for decades.

Third, executive mobility within the sector amplifies the value of consistent gathering participation. Kate Freer's recent appointment as CEO of Get Living PLC, following her tenure as Executive Vice President of Investments at Realstar Group where she built a £2.6 billion GDV UK multifamily portfolio, exemplifies the calibre of leadership now shaping the European living landscape. When senior executives of this profile move between platforms and geographies, the gathering circuit provides the connective tissue that ensures capital relationships survive institutional transitions.

The convergence of thesis and infrastructure

The European living assets investment thesis is now beyond debate. Structural undersupply, demographic tailwinds, urbanisation patterns, and regulatory incentives through instruments such as the European Affordable Housing Plan all point in the same direction. The question facing institutional allocators is no longer whether to increase living exposure, but how to access the most compelling risk-adjusted opportunities in markets where institutional infrastructure is still maturing.

Southern Europe sits at the intersection of the strongest structural fundamentals and the greatest execution complexity. The student housing shortages documented by M&G across Italy, Spain, and Portugal represent just one dimension of a broader supply deficit that spans multifamily rental, co-living, and senior housing segments. The investment volume surges recorded by CBRE in Italy and Spain confirm that cross-border capital has identified the opportunity. The gathering circuit is where that capital finds its counterparties.

GRI Institute's position in this ecosystem reflects a broader evolution in how institutional real estate markets function. The traditional model, in which investors sourced deals through broker intermediation and evaluated opportunities through formal pitchbook processes, remains relevant but insufficient for a sector characterised by operational intensity and geographic fragmentation. The gathering model adds a layer of relationship-driven pipeline development that complements formal intermediation channels.

The living assets gathering circuit has become, in effect, the soft infrastructure of a hard asset class. For institutional investors planning to deploy into Southern European residential strategies, participation in this circuit is a strategic decision with direct implications for deal flow quality and execution speed.

What does this mean for capital allocation decisions in 2026 and beyond?

The data points converge on a clear conclusion. With EUR 51 billion in planned three-year deployments, 96% of institutions signalling increased living exposure, and Southern European markets recording the strongest volume growth across the continent, the competitive advantage in this sector will accrue to investors who build the deepest relationship networks in the most supply-constrained markets.

The gathering circuit is the mechanism through which those networks are built. GRI Institute's Living Assets Southern Europe 2026, convening in Madrid on April 29, represents one node in this broader architecture, but the principle extends beyond any single event. Institutional residential capital formation in Southern Europe is a multi-year process that rewards consistent engagement, repeated interaction, and the trust that accumulates when senior principals meet in environments designed for substantive exchange.

The living assets allocation shift is real, measurable, and accelerating. The infrastructure that channels it into deployed capital deserves equal strategic attention.

GRI Institute's research and gathering programmes across European living assets provide members with continuous access to the decision-makers, market intelligence, and deal-making environments that define this sector's trajectory. The community's focus on senior principal engagement ensures that the conversations shaping Southern European residential capital formation happen among the leaders with authority to act.