Harrison Street Asset Management (HSAM) is a $100+ billion global leader in real assets, investing across real estate, infrastructure, and credit strategies. The firm combines mid-market specialization with institutional scale, offering investors differentiated access and long-term value across essential real asset strategies.
Built on a foundation of expertise, integrity, and innovation, HSAM applies deep market knowledge, proprietary data insights, and disciplined execution to help investors achieve their long-term objectives. With a cycle-tested track record and unwavering commitment to alignment, transparency, and partnership, the firm has earned the trust of more than 900 institutional investors globally, the majority of whom are multi-fund partners. Headquartered in Chicago, Toronto, and London, HSAM’s 520 professionals across 17 offices unite global perspective with local insight. The firm’s leadership team - experienced across multiple market cycles - has built a culture rooted in collaboration, accountability, and long-term partnership, continuing to advance HSAM’s mission of creating enduring value alongside its investors.
Strategic corporate development
Harrison Street Asset Management is a global platform built to deliver scale, innovation, and performance across real assets. With extensive capabilities in real estate, infrastructure, and credit, HSAM provides investors differentiated access to strategies supported by distinct demand drivers and sectors less correlated to the broader economic cycle.
The firm’s leadership team, with decades of experience building and managing investment platforms through multiple market cycles, maintains a collective focus on discipline, alignment, and collaboration, ensuring HSAM remains nimble and forward-looking.
Leveraging its global reach, local expertise, and culture of partnership, HSAM continues to innovate and deliver differentiated mid-market real asset strategies across the risk-return spectrum.Pioneering Real Assets. Powering What’s Next.
Sector Forecasts
RESIDENTIAL: European Build-to-Rent (“BTR”)
European Build-to-Rent (“BTR”): Across many European cities, residential supply remains insufficient to meet growing demand. On average, European cities have experienced a 35% shortfall when comparing household growth to completions since 2018. The largest deficits have been seen in high conviction markets Spain and Ireland, where construction has not been able to keep up with household growth. To keep up with future demand, residential delivery needs to increase significantly. But given the uncertain macroeconomic outlook and difficulties in the construction sector, constrained supply is likely to persist in the short to medium term.
Although BTR is still a nascent sector in the UK and Europe, its underlying fundamentals and acceptance as a viable housing solution have created an attractive investment opportunity. Demand is being driven by structural housing undersupply and a secular shift towards renting, as macroeconomic pressures continue to make homeownership less attainable. Household income growth has not kept pace with home price inflation, while tighter mortgage markets and higher interest rates have further constrained affordability. At the same time, the available private rental stock—particularly in the UK and Spain—has contracted as elevated financing costs and stricter regulations have led many private landlords to exit the market. Unlike traditional buy-to-let apartments, BTR units are professionally managed and often held in long-term portfolios, giving tenants a higher quality experience than what would otherwise be available from individual landlords.
OTHER: European Student Accommodation –
Strong fundamentals continue to define Europe’s student housing market. Enrolment gains in the past 5 years have ensured that the overall number of students in Europe continues to rise, with our key student accommodation markets seeing full-time `enrolment growth of between 2% and 14% when compared to pre-Covid levels. The growth of international students has been particularly strong, with Italy (71%), Ireland (33%), the UK (31%) and Spain (21%) all experiencing exceptional increases. Across major European markets, international students have outpaced domestic growth and are approximately 60% more likely to reside in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), reinforcing the sector’s enduring demand dynamics.
The opportunity to pursue a degree with varying levels of affordability and the advantages of greater earning potential upon completion continue to sustain the persistent demand for higher education. Furthermore, Europe’s relatively stagnant economy is likely to see student numbers further increase as people return to university to reskill. University enrolment growth and limited PBSA have created a structural supply and demand imbalance of student housing across Europe. Accordingly, investment and development activity have increased throughout primary European university cities; however, with provision rates as low as 4% in some cities, there is still a long way to go until these markets reach full maturity. HSAM believes that the demographic driven demand for tertiary education offers counter-cyclical performance with the ability to deliver secure income during varying economic cycles and that the underlying demand fundamentals in many European university markets create appealing investment opportunities.
European Senior Housing –
The European senior housing sector presents a compelling long-term investment opportunity, well aligned with institutional investors’ objectives for stable, income-generating assets supported by structural, rather than cyclical, drivers. Demographic trends across Europe point to a rapidly aging population, with the number and proportion of seniors rising significantly, underscoring the need for expanded and modernized housing options
Accelerating demand requires an expansion of supply as a significant proportion of the existing senior housing stock is either sub-standard or functionally obsolete. At the same time, pressure on public finances and the need for capital among existing operators-many of whom are seeking to scale in a consolidating market create attractive entry points for private investors. The opportunities for senior housing investments are concentrated in countries with affluent seniors, high income levels, greater self-financing requirements for senior care, and established housing cultures that support private sector participation.
European Self Storage –
We believe that investor attention and increased investment in the self storage sector in Europe is well deserved. Institutional investment in European self storage has increased in each of the past five years as the sector has demonstrated strong operational performance and defensive characteristics in recent years of wider market disruption. Shorter lease lengths have enabled operators to capture rental growth, which has been particularly attractive during the past few years of elevated consumer price growth. In 2025, the sector continues to be underpinned by strong fundamentals, with strong rental growth and stable occupancy, despite a marked increase in supply in recent years. Although there has been a significant amount of development in recent years, the sector remains relatively nascent when compared to more mature storage markets. There is only 0.3 square feet of lettable storage space per capita in Europe compared to the US (6.4 sqft per capita) and Australia (1.9 sqft per capita). Demand for self storage space is expected to persist and increase as the number of people living in smaller homes in urban areas is forecast to grow further, resulting in more people likely requiring additional storage. Although housing transactions have fallen as mortgage rates have increased, declining mortgage rates should boost new home transactions, a key driver of storage use. There has also been increased adoption of self storage from businesses seeking additional storage space for their goods and products in closer proximity to their customers to facilitate the increasing demand for same day delivery.
Investment principles & strategy
Harrison Street leverages its investment expertise and exclusive focus in alternative real assets to execute its strategy with confidence. As a first mover in demographic driven, needs-based real assets, the firm has invested $70 billion/€68 billion of gross investment cost across 1,698 transactions in its target sectors. Additionally, the firm has realised on 738 assets totaling over $19 billion/€18 billion in total cost. It is with this deep experience that we execute a rigorous and time-tested investment process. We bring together all disciplines of the firm to collaboratively manage assets throughout the investment life cycle from strategy conception to disposition.
The demand for Harrison Street’s target sectors is driven by ongoing consumer needs and demographics. The cycle-resilient user demand is derived from demographic trends: an ageing population that continues to grow and live longer; increasing college enrolments; and a more mobile population. Further, there are varying degrees of need for services offered at the properties including important life events, such as the one-time need to obtain a college degree contributing to student housing occupancy; recurring events, such as the need to visit a physician’s office regularly; or absolute needs, such as the need to live in an assisted living or memory care senior housing community.
The firm executes strategies in both core and non-core investments in North America and Europe.
Performance verification
Performance return cashflows for Harrison Street European Fund I, Harrison Street European Fund II and Harrison Street Fund III have been verified by the accounting firm Ernst & Young through 31 December 2024. Returns are calculated in accordance with INREV Guidelines. The calculated performance is thoroughly checked inhouse by Harrison Street as part of a multi-stage process.
COMPLIANCE STATEMENT
The information contained herein is for the sole purpose of providing general information to institutional investors about HSAM and its affiliates. Certain subsidiaries are registered with appropriate regulatory authorities. No representation is made concerning the accuracy of the information compiled herein, and no guarantee or assurance is given that any forecast or opinion in these materials will be realised. The information contained herein is not investment advice and may not be construed as the promotion or marketing of any services or financial product sponsored or provided by HSAM and its affiliates. All information herein is as of June 30, 2025, unless otherwise stated, and Harrison Street undertakes no obligation to update any such information.
The figures and data herein are generally comprised of the aggregated data of investment advisors owned in whole or in part by HSAM.
