Press Release
Real Estate Offers a Strategic Opportunity, but the C-Suite Want More
February 11, 2025
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Leadership’s appreciation of real estate is growing, but there is significant potential for it to further support business strategy, according to CBRE’s inaugural C-Suite Perspectives report.
C-Suite Perspectives, which canvassed the views of 252 C-Suite leaders across Europe and the US, found that 94% of respondents see real estate as important to achieving core business objectives. According to the research, half of leaders see real estate becoming more important over the next three years, with Chief Executive Officers and Chief Operating Officers (63%) holding this view more strongly. At a sector level, 81% of manufacturing firms anticipate real estate will grow in importance, indicating that they are poised to manage their real estate assets much more proactively than they have in the past.
The vast majority of respondents (94%) believe that real estate plays a critical or very important role in shaping corporate culture and 72% said real estate is having a positive impact on achieving core objectives.
Real estate is seen as a contributor to core business objectives, with leaders accepting its potential as a business value generator. It’s no surprise that companies with a higher exposure to offices attribute a greater importance to real estate, given how strongly the pandemic-related disruption impacted office portfolios and efforts to attract and retain the best talent We are also seeing manufacturing and related sectors such as transport are putting greater emphasis on their real estate as managing supply chain risk continues to be front of mind for leaders in these industries.
CBRE’s research found that leaders want their teams to have the best work environments. Elements that enable adaptability, resilience and continuity, such as increased lease flexibility, cost saving opportunities and better performance metrics, are top priorities.
To extract the most out of their real estate, leaders have become closer to it, with direct reporting lines for corporate real estate teams becoming the norm. Almost all (97%) respondents have a globally or regionally centralised real estate function with a reporting line into the C-Suite, of which 60% is direct.
More than two thirds (68%) of C-Suite leaders said direct reporting lines had been initiated since the pandemic, reflecting the increased alignment of real estate with supporting business transformation. There is a desire to optimise reporting structures further, with 77% of those who currently have an indirect reporting line to the C-Suite intending to switch to direct reporting in the future.
Despite widespread reconfiguration of reporting lines in recent years, C-Suite leaders still desire more influence over real estate decisions. 76% of respondents said that they want more personal influence or involvement, as real estate becomes key in supporting businesses growth plans and enabling business resilience.
Our research tells us that above all, leaders seek flexibility and want their real estate to be adaptable to the speed of business change. When viewed as an enabler instead of a cost, real estate can deliver places and spaces where teams and clients come together to generate ideas, innovate and achieve business growth.
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2024 revenue). The company has more than 140,000 employees (including Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE serves a diverse range of clients with an integrated suite of services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.co.uk.