JLL: Real estate investors' AI adoption outcomes include...
Commercial real estate investors are reporting tangible benefits from using artificial intelligence, but some challenges still persist.
According to a new survey of industry professionals from real estate services giant JLL, a large majority (83%) of major investors have advanced past test stages of AI integration. Eighty percent of investors report tangible AI benefits, yet 43% struggle to achieve their goals.
Despite widespread adoption, true organizational maturity remains low. Only 15% of real estate investors have built custom agentic workflows across all deployment areas, according to JLL’s survey, leading to widespread “competitive convergence” as firms use identical tools on identical data.
The survey found that investment outperformance and capability building in capital deployment remain the industry's highest priorities (49% each) when it comes to AI usage.
However, asset and property management, which is consistently ranked among the lowest priorities for AI, delivers the strongest measurable outcomes across efficiency (66%), decision quality (57%), capability building (50%) and generated outperformance (46%).
Among surveyed investors whose data is not AI-ready, 59% struggle to realize meaningful benefits, compared to only 21% of investors who established "clean, governed and connected” data foundations.
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"We are reaching a stage where investors need to revisit their AI strategy area through a value retention lens," said Alexandra Bryant, global CEO of value & risk advisory at JLL. "In certain areas where using AI will become table stakes, such as faster underwriting, it is unlikely that will provide lasting value or competitive advantage. However, when considering AI to drive effectiveness, for example in asset management, the same efficiency flows into net operating income and asset value, and the investor retains the value add against past performance."
