Investment in EMEA living sectors reached €17.4 billion in the second quarter of 2026, according to JLL. It was the highest quarterly transactional volume since 2022, rising 49% year-on-year on strong growth in multifamily portfolios.
The half-year total stands at €31.2 billion, a 10% increase on 2025 and 16% above the 2021–25 five-year H1 average.
Scale, not frequency
The average living deal size grew to €72 million, compared with €39 million in the prior-year period, as larger deals boosted volumes amid a 19% fall in the number of transactions.
Some 68% of volumes were in transactions over €100 million, with these combined totals rising by 103%, set against an 8% fall in investment in deals under €100 million. The prominence of large platform deals saw Q2 entity investment volumes rise fivefold, with forward investment up 102% and existing stock investment sales up 18%.
Where the growth came from
Multifamily investment grew 83% year-on-year to €14.3 billion in Q2, driven by various €1bn-plus platform deals in Sweden, the UK and Spain. Affordable housing saw the second-highest gains, rising 98% year-on-year on growth in Spain.
Affordability and cost pressures
Average growth in city residential sales prices slowed to 3.1% in Q2, below average rental growth of 3.4%, with both just above average inflation in these markets of 2.6%. JLL reports that renting is now more affordable than buying in two-thirds of key European cities due to high prices and mortgage costs.
Construction cost growth is also outpacing inflation, up 3.7% in Q2 and expected to accelerate further due to global supply chain pressures resulting from the Middle East conflict and disruption to shipping. New supply will be limited by rising costs, despite recent growth in residential permits, up 7.7% in Q1. JLL says strong tenant demand and a clear supply imbalance continue to underpin investor sentiment and operational performance.
Commentary
Gemma Kendall, head of EMEA living investment at JLL, said: "The second quarter marks a decisive shift in living sector investment, with large-scale platform transactions driving a return to post-pandemic volume levels. Institutional capital is increasingly focused on high-quality operational portfolios, or those platforms where privatisation supports the business plan. This increased appetite reflects investor confidence in the structural fundamentals."
Emma Rosser, EMEA living research director at JLL, added: "European housing markets are responding to renewed cost pressures. Higher homebuying costs have supressed purchase activity, driving increased demand for rental. Affordability challenges persist, while recent gains in housing supply face fresh threats from construction sector headwinds."
Reading the numbers
The composition of the quarter matters as much as the headline. Volume growth concentrated in transactions above €100 million, alongside a falling deal count, indicates a market being set by a small number of large operational platforms rather than by broad-based activity.
For family offices, that concentration is the practical constraint: exposure at this end of the living market is generally obtained through funds, joint ventures or co-investment rather than direct purchase. JLL's transactional volumes include direct, entity and development transactions above $5 million, and its living definition covers multi-housing and PBSA sectors.
Reported by UKFOS from JLL research · UKFOS editorial publication date 15 August 2026