Our fourth annual Private Markets Study¹  reveals a surge in plans to invest in developed European infrastructure, with 57 percent of limited partner (LP) respondents selecting Europe as a key region for capital allocation, up from 44 percent in last year’s survey. The region has emerged as the top destination for LPs’ infrastructure capital, surpassing North America, where 53 percent are planning investments (up marginally from 50 percent last year). This shift underscores Europe’s rising dominance in the infrastructure space. The data also highlights a growing trend for investors to prioritize their home regions, with the number of European LPs planning infrastructure investments in developed Europe soaring from 58 percent last year to 76 percent this year.

North American respondents show a similar trend, on a smaller scale, with 71 percent now planning investments within the region, compared to 68 percent last year. Developed Europe also overtook North America for incoming real estate investments from institutional investors, although the numbers were closer to begin with and remain similar.

Last year, 46 percent of total LPs were planning North American property allocations, up to 49 percent this year. However, 54 percent of LPs expect they will make developed Europe property investments within two years, another large jump from last year (42 percent).

Developed Asia is also seeing growing infrastructure interest from LPs. A third (33 percent) of respondents globally are planning investments in Asia, up from a quarter (25 percent) last year. This is also driven by growing home market interest, with the number of Asian institutions focusing on their region doubling from 32 percent last year to 64 percent this year.

North America remained the top destination for incoming investment to corporate private markets asset classes, with 72 percent of LPs investing in private equity and 58 percent in private debt, compared to 62 percent and 52 percent respectively in developed Europe (the second highest region).
 

Shift in LP allocations: Rising investments in home regions

There are several key takeaways from this data. Most notably, it suggests that the growth in government infrastructure spending and policies to drive inward capital markets in all these regions are beginning to show signs of success, as European and Asian government initiatives catch up with developments similar to those in the United States.

The slowing growth of US infrastructure investment could also reflect uncertainty around the new administration’s approach to the domestic infrastructure legislation passed by its predecessor. The increasing home-region bias in LPs’ investment intentions is a consistent trend across all private markets asset classes covered by our research, suggesting a wider retrenchment from globalization.

Meanwhile, all three regions we analyzed are benefiting from a broader trend within the private markets, where LPs are scaling back allocations to developing markets and refocusing on developed regions in response to growing economic and market uncertainty.

As described in our recent report, “Driving success in volatile markets,” the data reveals notable shifts from developed Europe and Asia Pacific between the 2024 and 2025 surveys, with developed Europe emerging as the primary beneficiary of this strategic repositioning.