平衡的艺术：2026年企业不动产前瞻报告

Corporate Real Estate in 2026 December 2025 FracturedFoundations ExecutiveSummary Cost-cutting and transformationpressures will collide, not alternate.The organisations that thrive willbe those that reframe efficiencyas a platform for reinvention. Realestate leaders will need to operatein a paradox, balancing savings The Year Ahead According toKnight Frank 2026 will be a year of paradox, not resolution. The fourforces dominating occupier thinking — cost, volatility,workstyles, and geopolitics — will converge. So too willAI and energy, whose interdependence may prove themost powerful disruptor of all. CRE leaders will be askedto cut costs while enabling transformation, mitigating 04 The WorkforceReset Resilience as theNew Value Equation The Energy–Industrial Nexus Energy will become the decisivefactor in corporate real estatestrategy. AI, defence, and greenindustry will converge to driveunprecedented demand forpower. In 2026, companies willbegin to choose sites not by rentor proximity alone but by energyresilience. The ability to scale AI In 2026, efficiency will no longerbe enough. Resilience will becomethe defining measure of value incorporate real estate. Portfolioswill be judged not only by cost persquare foot but by their abilityto withstand shocks, sustainproductivity, and protect people. The fear of becoming obsolete(FOBO) will be the definingworkforce reality for 2026.Employees will fear not invisibilitybut irrelevance, and they willexpect workplaces to help themstay employable. The debatearound flexibility will give wayto a sharper focus on extractingvalue from time in the office. THE LAST WORD:The Balance of 2026 The CRE FunctionUnder TestConditions Our assessment is clear. 2026 willnot be the year of transformationcompleted. It will be the year oftransformation begun. Cost, AI,FOBO, resilience, and energy willconverge, making balance thedefining discipline. CRE will beboth participant and platform inthis act, proving its move fromoverhead to strategy and from cost In 2026, the corporate real estatefunction itself will face its ownFOBO moment. Cost pressures andautomation will expose teams thatremain transactional. The teamsthat thrive will move upstream,embedding themselves inenterprise strategy, mastering data,and re-framing space as resilience.CRE will no longer be judged by soaring digital consumption withcommitments to decarbonisation.CRE leaders are caught in themiddle: tasked with enablingAI-driven transformation whileensuring that energy use is bothsecure and sustainable. This Fig. 1: What’s Shaping CRE Strategy? Introduction:From Changing Tact to Balancing Acts From cost pressures to AI bets, the top forces reshaping decision making Short-Term Pressures, Long-Term Imperatives This hierarchy of concerns framesour outlook for 2026. engendered) disrupted supplychains and unsettled investmentplans. Political volatility andeconomic instability made long-term commitments harder to land. The year ahead will not bedefined by clarity but by balance.Companies will not have the luxuryof choosing between efficiency and The subsequent fourth editionof (Y)OUR SPACE, launched inMay 2025, captured this dynamicclearly. Nearly 300 senior CREleaders, directly responsible formore than 650 million sq. ft of real Yet balance alone will not beenough. If 2025 defined thechallenge, 2026 will define theresponse. Corporate real estateleaders cannot afford to wait forstability that may never arrive,nor can they be content with Introduction: FromChanging Tact toBalancing Acts Balancing growth and costcontrol When we publishedChangingTactin late 2024, we argued that2025 would be a defining yearfor corporate real estate. Thatprediction has proved partly true.Over the past twelve months,we have seen more progressivediscussions emerge at both theportfolio and workplace level - withoccupiers taking a harder look atrightsizing, rethinking the valueof the workplace, and pushingsustainability from a search forthe “green bullet” to a focus onthe entire property life cycle. Uncertainty and volatility inthe operating environment, Dr. Lee ElliottGlobal Head of Occupier Research Further changes toworkstyle THE KNIGHTFRANK VIEW FOR2026 Trade wars and political These findings underlinehow intent has been tested byturbulence. They also show thatCRE leaders are being forced to 2026 will be a year ofparadox, not resolution.The four forcesdominating occupierthinking -cost, volatility,workstyles, and geopolitics- will converge. So toowill AI and energy, whoseinterdependence mayprove the most powerfuldisruptor of all. CRE Alongside these four forces, twocross-cutting themes emergedrepeatedly in our discussions withoccupiers: artificial intelligence industrialisation of AI is creatingvast new demands on power,data centres, and supportinginfrastructure. At the same Fig. 2: Acute Transformation Pressure Offensive transformation strategies emerge as companies double down on change The Great CorporateB