New ULI and Heitman Report: AI Is Making Power the New Driver of Real Estate Value

WASHINGTON, October 15, 2026--The Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Heitman, a global real estate investment management firm, today released Investment Strategies in the AI Era: Power Is the New Location, the 6th report in the ULI-Heitman Evolving Real Estate Investment Risks and Opportunities series.

The report explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping real estate economics and redefining the drivers of long-term value creation. As demand for computing power accelerates, access to reliable power, digital connectivity, and infrastructure capacity is becoming increasingly important. Markets with abundant energy, transmission capacity, fiber connectivity, and the ability to deliver new power quickly could gain a growing advantage in attracting investment, development, jobs, and economic activity.

The report also highlights the scale of the opportunity: global data center investment is projected to exceed $7.6 trillion by 2031, including approximately $2.1 trillion tied directly to real estate1. The resulting demand for power, land, connectivity, and supporting infrastructure could create ripple effects across virtually every property sector.

"For decades, the first rule of real estate was location, location, location," said Laura Craft, Global Head of Portfolio Sustainability Strategies at Heitman. "As AI transforms the global economy, power availability is becoming just as important. Access to power, connectivity, and technology-ready infrastructure will increasingly shape where investment flows and where growth occurs."

"For generations, location in real estate has been about access to people, jobs, transportation and amenities. Increasingly, access to reliable and affordable power belongs near the top of that list," said Aimee Witteman, Chief Impact Officer for ULI. "That shift has implications well beyond data centers, influencing where development can occur, how land is valued and which communities are positioned for growth."

Among the report's key findings:

• Power is becoming a competitive advantage. Reliable access to power, transmission infrastructure and connectivity increasingly influences where development can occur and which markets attract investment.

• AI's real estate opportunity reaches far beyond data centers. Powered land, battery storage, industrial facilities, workforce housing and distributed computing infrastructure could all benefit from AI-driven growth.

• Every property sector faces disruption. From office and industrial buildings to housing, retail and healthcare, AI is expected to reshape how properties are operated, occupied, financed and valued.

• AI is redefining real estate investment strategy. As AI adoption accelerates and power constraints become more pronounced, access to energy and connectivity could increasingly influence land values, development patterns, market competitiveness, and capital allocation decisions.