2026 Is the Tipping Point for AI in Commercial Real Estate. Here’s How to Benefit.

Historically, commercial real estate has been defined by long cycles, “gut feelings” from industry experts, and relationship-driven decision-making. We’ve now reached a point where technology has steadily modernized much of the industry, beginning before the COVID-19 pandemic, but artificial intelligence promises a new wave of innovation, insights and capabilities unlike anything we’ve ever seen — for those who embrace AI in earnest.

2026 will be the year that embracing AI and having a well-defined strategy becomes a baseline expectation for the CRE industry. 

While the last few years have been a period of early adoption and experimentation for AI in CRE, this year promises to be a major inflection point — delineating clear winners and losers with regard to execution speed and operating margin. The question is no longer if AI will reshape portfolio management, investment, strategy and operations, but who will be left holding the keys to obsolete operating models of the past.

The companies that treat AI as a future initiative or experiment risk falling behind those that are already operationalizing it across leasing, asset management and portfolio strategy. The next 12 to 24 months represent a narrowing window, one in which CRE leaders must commit to action in integrating AI in their operations.

The industry is witnessing three major forces converging in 2026 that create a sense of urgency for AI action:

Data maturity has reached critical mass. CRE organizations now possess years of structured leasing, tenant and operational data — especially those operating on modern platforms. AI models thrive on this depth and continuity. The limiting factor is no longer data availability, but whether firms are prepared to activate it.

Economic pressure demands precision. Volatility in capital markets, evolving workplace behaviors and heightened competition for tenants are shrinking margins and making profitability more complicated. Gut instincts alone can’t keep pace. Leaders need AI-driven insights to optimize their execution, anticipate demand, and identify risk earlier.

AI is moving from single-point solutions to comprehensive platforms. The next wave of AI isn’t about point solutions, it’s about intelligence embedded into your daily workflow from trusted providers. We’ve now reached a point where AI is integrated in the platforms teams already use, shaping decisions in real time rather than after the fact, and removing the need to source additional technology providers and onboard with new solutions for your business.

One of the most profound benefits of AI in CRE lies in investment and valuation. Historically, valuations were backward-looking, relying on comps from months prior. In a competitive market, looking in the rearview mirror puts you at risk. With national demand for office increasing 16 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2025, it’s crucial that decision-makers stay ahead of market trends to capitalize on demand.

Prior to today, the industry suffered from data fragmentation. Leasing activity, tenant conversations, market signals and portfolio performance have lived in disconnected systems, making generating valuable insights challenging and creating extreme limitations. But that’s now changed. 

The most advanced CRE platforms now unify leasing, asset and tenant data into a single system that integrates these critical insights within the software their teams use each day, providing the most comprehensive view of the market by synthesizing hundreds of millions of data points, generating a 360-degree view of critical insights, and making it easy for teams to access within their daily workflows. 

As portfolios expand and markets become more complex, static reporting and backward-looking analyses provide an outdated and incomplete picture — leaving you in the dark. AI provides teams the ability to identify trends and anomalies in their portfolio or in the market at large, and take action against the insights.

When leasing and asset data are centralized on a single platform, AI continuously analyzes performance across assets, markets and time, turning what used to be retrospective reporting into forward-looking portfolio intelligence. AI allows benchmarking performance to be done with ease, providing comparisons across assets, markets and time periods — ensuring your teams can perform optimally and stay ahead of competitors.

The most significant risk in delaying an AI strategy isn’t missing a trend. It’s allowing competitors to compound advantages.

Firms that embrace AI now will benefit from:

• Faster leasing cycles through predictive demand signals.
• Smarter asset strategies informed by portfolio-wide pattern recognition.
• Stronger tenant relationships driven by proactive, personalized engagement.
• More efficient teams empowered by automation and decision support.

Companies that wait will face a steeper climb — not because the technology is inaccessible, but because AI systems improve with time, usage and organizational familiarity. Teams that have greater experience using AI are at a much stronger advantage, as they have operational excellence integrating the technology in their day-to-day workflows, and are accustomed to shaping strategy and operations around the benefits AI provides their businesses.

Late adopters won’t just be behind, they’ll be catching up in a market that is faster, smarter and operating more efficiently. For CRE leaders, developing a comprehensive AI strategy isn’t just about efficiency — it is now a fundamental requirement for growth and survival against competitors.

Nick Romito is CEO of real estate technology platform VTS.