Nuveen: Insti Investors Focus on Data Infrastructure

Nuveen: Insti Investors Focus on Data Infrastructure

Institutional investor interest in real estate is returning with digital infrastructure being a major point of focus, according to a survey by Nuveen.

Amongst asset classes in which institutional investors are seeking to add exposure, private infrastructure and real estate saw the biggest year-on-year boosts, according to Nuveen’s fifth annual EQuilibrium Global Institutional Investor Survey. In 2025, 50 percent of respondents plan on increasing allocations to private infrastructure while 37 percent want to expand investments in private real estate. This compares to 35 percent and 24 percent, respectively, in 2024.

Data centers are the leading priority with 65 percent planning on increasing allocations to real estate focused on digital infrastructure, «reflecting the rapid expansion of cloud computing and AI-driven demand».

Private Market Demand

Interest in private real estate is part of a broader trend in growing demand for private market investments. 66 percent of respondents said they plan to grow allocations to private assets over the next five years with private equity seeing the most significant increase. Insurers are among those interested with 69 percent planning to increase private market allocations during the same period.

There is also a trend toward fixed income with higher yield and higher risk, including exploration of niche areas such as energy infrastructure credit and fund finance. In fact, 90 percent of institutional investors now hold both private equity and private credit, up from just 45 percent in 2021.

«Private market flows remain resilient, with funding sourced from public asset outflows, cash reserves, and new capital. Even those adjusting allocations within private markets are largely reallocating rather than exiting,» commented Harriet Steel, global head of institutional at Nuveen.

The survey was based on responses from 800 institutions globally across North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific in October and November 2024. Respondents were decision-makers at corporate pensions, public pensions, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, superannuation funds, sovereign wealth funds, and central banks with a minimum asset size of $500 million.