Key Takeaways
- • The Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Heitman released "Investment Strategies in the AI Era: Power Is the New Location," the sixth report in the ULI-Heitman Evolving Real Estate Investment Risks and Opportunities series.
- • The report argues that access to reliable power, digital connectivity and infrastructure capacity is becoming a key driver of real estate value as AI-driven computing demand accelerates.
- • Global data center investment is projected to exceed $7.6 trillion by 2031, including approximately $2.1 trillion tied directly to real estate, according to the report.
- • Markets with abundant energy, transmission capacity, fiber connectivity and the ability to deliver new power quickly could gain an advantage in attracting investment, development, jobs and economic activity.
Summary
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Heitman have released "Investment Strategies in the AI Era: Power Is the New Location," the sixth installment in the ULI-Heitman Evolving Real Estate Investment Risks and Opportunities series. The report examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping real estate economics and redefining the drivers of long-term value creation.
According to the report, rising demand for computing power is making access to reliable power, digital connectivity and infrastructure capacity increasingly important to real estate investment. Markets with abundant energy, transmission capacity, fiber connectivity and the ability to deliver new power quickly could gain a growing advantage in attracting investment, development, jobs and economic activity.
The report quantifies the opportunity, projecting global data center investment to exceed $7.6 trillion by 2031, of which approximately $2.1 trillion is tied directly to real estate. The resulting demand for power, land, connectivity and infrastructure is expected to reshape site selection and capital allocation decisions for allocators and developers.
Heitman is a global real estate investment management firm with approximately $48 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2025, according to its disclosures. The ULI Impact Lab and Heitman have previously examined data center expansion and competition for energy resources in related research, and the current report extends that work to the investment implications of power availability.
According to the report, rising demand for computing power is making access to reliable power, digital connectivity and infrastructure capacity increasingly important to real estate investment. Markets with abundant energy, transmission capacity, fiber connectivity and the ability to deliver new power quickly could gain a growing advantage in attracting investment, development, jobs and economic activity.
The report quantifies the opportunity, projecting global data center investment to exceed $7.6 trillion by 2031, of which approximately $2.1 trillion is tied directly to real estate. The resulting demand for power, land, connectivity and infrastructure is expected to reshape site selection and capital allocation decisions for allocators and developers.
Heitman is a global real estate investment management firm with approximately $48 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2025, according to its disclosures. The ULI Impact Lab and Heitman have previously examined data center expansion and competition for energy resources in related research, and the current report extends that work to the investment implications of power availability.
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