The UK remained the world’s second largest destination for cross-border investment in H1 2026, although inbound investment fell approximately 25% year-on-year from $13.5bn in H1 2025 to $10.4bn in H1 2026, according to the latest data from Savills.
Offshore investors remain net UK buyers, but the gap between acquisitions and disposals is the narrowest in more than a decade. US investors continue to dominate activity, extending a post-pandemic trend towards greater concentration of American capital.
Rasheed Hassan, head of global cross border investment at Savills, said: “Geographically, much of the commentary this year around global capital flows has implied that cross-border investors are being more selective and focusing on a fewer number of ‘high-conviction’ markets, however this is not necessarily backed by the data. Our analysis shows that capital flows are becoming more diverse, focused more on the markets that are showing solid fundamentals, with the US, UK, Japan, Australia and Southern Europe attracting growing interest.”
