Ben Brown, Co-President and Head of Real Estate for the Americas at Brookfield, underscores his company's robust position in an increasingly uncertain market. Speaking at Brookfield's offices at 225 Liberty Street, Brown emphasised that the company's business model is deliberately geared towards the current market environment. Brookfield's figures are impressive: $258 billion in real estate assets under management, 79,000 residential units, a further 74,000 student accommodation beds, 165 million square feet of logistics space, 189 million square feet of office space, 107 million square feet of retail space (and 2 million square feet of entertainment space), and 43,000 hotel rooms. This scale allows the company to act actively even in volatile times.
Over the past 18 months, Brookfield has been extremely active. The company recorded approximately $9 billion in debt originations, $21.5 billion in equity dispositions, and $32.3 billion in acquisitions. Additionally, $13.2 billion in new capital was raised. At the heart of these extensive real estate activities is Ben Brown, who has been with the company for 17 years. He describes Brookfield's recent expansion as 'one of the most active periods I've experienced in our real estate business'.
When asked about Brookfield's activity, Brown replied that 2026 has the potential to surpass the real estate business's most active year to date. Brown explained that Brookfield made new investments of just under $10 billion last year, approximately $8 billion to $9 billion globally. This year, they have already reached about $16 billion. At the same time, the company was also an active seller last year with dispositions totalling $16 billion, while this year it has been $5 billion so far. He stressed that they are on track to meet, if not exceed, last year's overall transaction activity figures.
Brookfield focuses heavily on logistics and residential properties. In the residential sector, several large and transformative acquisitions have been made. In logistics, the portfolio includes not only traditional industrial warehouses, distribution centres, and infill assets, but also downstream segments such as self-storage. He mentioned the largest privatisation of an Australian listed real estate company in the National Storage sector, as well as the recent acquisition of Peakstone in the USA, a company focused on bulk cargo and industrial outdoor storage areas. These transactions allow the company to acquire properties on favourable terms and at scale.
In the USA, the gross value of three major logistics transactions, including Peakstone, amounts to approximately $4.5 billion to $5 billion. Brookfield has already re-marketed about a quarter of this portfolio by breaking it down into smaller, more liquid units. This approach exploits price discrepancies between large and small assets. Brown cited data centres as a closely related asset class to industry. He explained that Brookfield is uniquely positioned in this segment, possessing expertise in energy, land, and computing. With investments in power generation and renewable energy, as well as the ability to identify and develop land, Brookfield sees itself as a leading investor and developer of digital assets. The company has been investing in data centres for 14 years.
