Mai 2025
Arcadis (29 pages).

Political and economic uncertainty has increased dramatically. In times like this, the easiest reaction for many clients is to wait and see. But development is essential to meet the needs of a growing population and a rapidly evolving economy. There is a risk that opportunities for well-timed and profitable development could be missed through delay.
From the rebuilding of Los Angeles to the creation of new multifamily housing in cities like Toronto and Manchester, and the adaptation of existing buildings in New York and London to meet changing client expectations, a constant cycle of building is an essential part of the resilience and adaptability of the modern economy.
Some markets, including the data center market, continue to boom. However, for many sectors, the mood is more hesitant. High financing costs, ongoing economic uncertainty and the lingering effects of the pandemic on how space is used have created a challenging environment for development. Rising tariffs and other trade barriers risk compounding these issues, further slowing growth. The consequences are far-reaching — from a deepening housing crisis to growing gaps in healthcare, education and commerce as owners struggle to adapt their existing buildings to meet rapidly evolving needs.
It has become significantly more challenging for visionary clients to advance new projects, as assembling teams and securing development financing become increasingly difficult in an uncertain and unpredictable environment. But clients aren’t powerless, and there are many steps that can be taken to have better control over of their projects. By aligning proposals with real market needs and partnering with designers and other consultants who understand how buildings function and how people and the environment interact with them, clients can create more resilient, future-ready developments.
With the help of experts in data and AI, it’s possible to identify the critical success factors that drive both viability and long-term performance. At the same time, project teams can harness the power of digital platforms to develop proposals to a higher level of maturity — giving contractors and investors the confidence that plans are robust, deliverable and investment-ready before construction begins.

Mai 2025
PPIAF, Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility du Groupe de la Banque Mondiale (164 pages).

Global private investment in infrastructure projects in primary markets rose notably in nominal terms in 2023, increasing by 10 percent. The majority of this growth took place in developed markets, while low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experienced a slight decline. This marks a continuation of strong post-pandemic growth, with investment levels significantly higher than the five-year average (2018-2022).
However, infrastructure delivery costs have increased significantly in the meantime — potentially 10 percent above inflation based on the construction cost index across G20 countries — necessitating a cautious interpretation of the trend especially for greenfield projects.
Meanwhile, secondary market investments declined by 17 percent in 2023, largely due to reduced acquisition activity, a reflection of the impact of higher interest rates on asset valuations. The share of LMIC countries for secondary market continued to decrease slightly and only represented around 12 percent of the global volumes. Preliminary data for 2024 indicates some significant rebound for secondary activities as many central banks globally initiated interest rate cuts, driven by declining inflationary pressures.

Avril 2025
IMD World Competitiveness Center (175 pages).

2025 has barely gotten underway and yet significant trade tensions, policy shifts, and weakened business and consumer confidence appear to have set the tone for the year. The aggressive trade stance adopted by the United States – which notably includes substantial tariff hikes on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada – has, as we know, triggered retaliatory measures, re-escalating trade wars. In 2018, during his first term, President Trump started increasing tariffs on goods from China -first on “only” 8% of Chinese exports but covering over 66% by early 2020.
While the extent, magnitude, and duration of current tariff increases remain uncertain, past lessons from the 2018 US-China trade war suggest that the direct participants will all experience economic losses (Caliendo and Parro, 2023), while the impact on other economies will be more difficult to predict; there may be some winners – especially in Southeast Asia where production can be more easily relocated (Fajgelbaum et al., 2024).
Inflationary pressures remain a concern, particularly in industries heavily reliant on imported materials, such as construction. Higher tariffs on steel (and potentially lumber) are expected to increase development costs, putting further stress on an already-constrained housing supply.
Making housing more affordable is the top priority for most of the respondents of the 2025 IMD Smart City Survey. In 110 out of 146 cities, affordable housing is mentioned as a priority by at least half of the respondents in the city. The issue is particularly felt in Dublin or Vancouver, where about 90% of the IMD Smart City Survey respondents expressed concern over housing affordability. Respondents in the Middle East agree: about 80% of respondents from AlUla or Dubai identify affordable housing as a priority area.

Avril 2025
Banque Européenne d'Investissement (50 pages).

A majority of municipalities and cities plan to boost investment in climate measures and social infrastructure over the next three years. 56% of municipalities plan to significantly increase investment in climate change mitigation, while 53% plan to raise investment in social infrastructure.
A lack of finance and burdensome regulations often slow or stall municipal investments. Nearly two-thirds of municipalities have difficulties finding finance for investments, and almost half cite lengthy regulatory processes a problem.
A large and growing share of municipalities and cities say EU financial support is critical to financing future infrastructure investments. For planned investment projects, 83% of municipalities say EU grants will provide most of the funding, while 74% plan to use government transfers.

Mars 2025
EPEC, European PPP Expertise Centre (20 pages).

In 2024, 39 public-private partnership transactions reached financial close for an aggregate value of €11.47 billion.
The value of the market decreased by 17%, compared to 2023.
The number of projects reaching financial close increased by 2.6%, with 39 projects in 2024 vs. 38 in 2023.
Greece was the largest market by value, while Belgium led in the number of projects.
11 countries closed at least one public-private partnership project, compared to 13 in 2023.
Transport was the largest sector by value.
Education was the largest sector by number of projects.
Over 61% of the transactions closed were government-pay public-private partnerships.

Mars 2025
UNEP, Programme pour l'Environnement des Nations Unies (94 pages).

The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2024-2025 - Not just another brick in the wall highlights progress made on related global climate goals and calls for greater ambition on six challenges, including building energy codes, renewable energy, and financing. Global frameworks and initiatives such as Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate, the Buildings Breakthrough and the Declaration de Chaillot are sustaining momentum towards adopting ambitious climate action plans, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), for net-zero buildings ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil.
Despite this progress, the sector remains a key driver of the climate crisis, consuming 32 per cent of global energy and contributing to 34 per cent of global CO2 emissions. The sector is dependent on materials like cement and steel that are responsible for 18% of global emissions and are a major source of construction waste.
This report underscores the urgency of harmonizing building codes, scaling low-carbon materials, increasing equitable access to green financing and incentivizing circular construction. Workforce development programmes must also prioritize filling skill gaps while fostering gender diversity in green construction leadership roles. Moreover, stronger global coordination and accountability mechanisms such as the G20’s Voluntary Action Plan to double energy efficiency by 2030 are critical to accelerating progress.

Mars 2025
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (78 pages).

Climate change is no longer something in the future, to be debated whether it’s real or not. From heatwaves in India to wildfires in Los Angeles, the climate crisis is unfolding all around us. So the need to drastically cut carbon emissions is clear, and broadly speaking the Built Environment is about a third of the problem.
The question is what to do about a sector that is so diverse, and at the same time critical to who we are and what we do – our homes, schools, hospitals, factories and offices.
As Built Environment professionals we deal with this challenge every day, one building or development at a time. But it’s not enough for us to only focus on the projects that are in front
of us. We need to use our knowledge of what works on the ground, building by building, to help shape policies and market incentives that will be effective in driving down Built Environment carbon emissions across the whole sector.
In this publication we are focusing on the carbon impact of buildings in operation. This is not a new topic, the science of energy efficiency in buildings is relatively developed, and the solutions to operational decarbonization are largely already in our hands. In this sense it is different to embodied carbon in construction, which is a relatively new area of study (and is addressed in other publications in this series). The challenge therefore is one of behaviors – how we push operational decarbonization far enough up the agenda to drive real action.

Mars 2025
Boston Consulting group (37 pages).

Over the past two decades, private infrastructure investment has delivered a reliable stream of steady returns and served as a major source of capital for the roads, seaports, airports, energy generation and transmission, broadband systems, data centers, and more on which our global society and global economy depend. In the past ten years alone, private infrastructure assets under management (AuM) have more than quadrupled, to $1.3 trillion.
But as this year’s report on the state of private infrastructure investing shows, while infrastructure assets under management continue to grow, deal volume declined in 2024 compared to the previous year, and fundraising is still down 43% from 2022’s peak, despite growing 14% year-over-year.
Moreover, the overall geopolitical situation remains unstable, even as interest rates have stabilized after falling from their recent peaks. The highly uncertain macroeconomic environment remains a concern as well, especially following the recent elections in the US. The new administration is engaged in a major revamping of the country’s administration and budget, which is likely to create unforeseen changes in multiple areas related to government and regulation, with as yet unclear impacts on global trade. The situation is kinetic and is generating considerable uncertainty for investors of all kinds.
Despite the headwinds, however, we believe that the near term prospects for private investment in infrastructure assets has improved since last year’s report. We see indications of further momentum in both investment and dealmaking. We also believe that high-level data does not fully reveal an underlying shift in how investors are approaching the infrastructure asset class. The industry is maturing, its mandate is changing, and both general partners (GPs) and limited partners (LPs) are responding in ways that will positively affect performance. Firms are consolidating to build scale or specialize, expanding their investment options, and improving their operational capabilities, resulting in offerings that are more carefully tuned to the current and future investment environment than ever.
In this year’s report, we provide both the data needed to better understand the current state of private infrastructure investing and an in-depth analysis of how the industry is upping its game in an increasingly complex environment.

Février 2025
EPEC, European PPP Expertise Centre (34 pages).

This report covers a wide range of PPP transactions (e.g. design-build-finance-operate, design-build-finance-maintain, concession arrangements which feature a construction element, the provision of a public service and risk sharing between the public and private sector, and can include regulated assets), regardless of the type of financing provided by the EIB (e.g. project finance, sovereign lending). Portfolio loans to small PPP projects and investments in equity PPP funds are not listed in this report.

Février 2025
Atradius (20 pages).

Despite the ongoing challenges in China’s real estate sector and high interest rates continuing to impact mortgage rates in Europe and the US, the outlook for the industry is not all doom and gloom. We expect to global construction output to increase by 2.3% in 2025 and by 3.3% in 2026.

Janvier 2025
Nations Unies, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean - ECLAC - (24 pages).

For decades, Latin America and the Caribbean has been investing in infrastructure, which has been essential for development and, at the same time, has had an impact on economic growth and the well-being of the population.

Décembre 2024
Forum Economique Mondial (48 pages).

Reimagining Real Estate: A Framework for the Future provides a pathway for the industry to create more liveable, sustainable, resilient and affordable buildings. The framework underscores that robust and resilient capital markets are key to achieving that vision and explores how technology, infrastructure and putting people at the heart of development all drive long-term value.
Calls to action for both the public and private sectors emphasize the necessity of collaboration amid an increasingly complex global landscape and case studies demonstrate what is possible.