Chiang Ling Ng and Alfonso Munk

Chiang Ling Ng and Alfonso Munk spent their first full year leading developer and owner Hines’ investment management business doing what they were brought in to do: expanding and putting money into the areas where long-term demand is strongest.

The co-heads oversee a global platform with $91.7 billion in assets and 65 strategic investment vehicles. Over the past year, Hines launched its fourth European value-add fund and continued expanding its flagship strategies. The pair’s most visible bets have included the $428 million acquisition of a large mixed-use complex in Los Angeles and a $274 million deal for the Birkdale Village in North Carolina, as well as the Marienhöfe residential development in Berlin, a fully leased office property in Paris, and Westpoint shopping center in Sydney.

“What stands out is not one transaction, but our ability to raise capital, deploy it selectively and deliver for investors across regions and sectors,” Munk said.

Housing remains Hines’ highest-conviction sector. Its research team estimates a housing shortage of at least 6.5 million units across the markets it tracks, while nearly half of its 2025 acquisitions involved housing. The firm also sees opportunities in infill logistics, powered land, data centers and supply-chain corridors benefiting from AI infrastructure and reshoring.

Ng said the investment market has moved beyond its repricing phase, too. Transaction activity is recovering, debt has reopened for quality assets, and buyers and sellers are aligning more, although lenders remain selective.

“The market today is offering a broader set of investable opportunities than it did a year ago,” Ng said. Financing gaps, she added, are also producing opportunities in real estate credit and across the capital stack.

Over the next 12 to 18 months, Hines expects to concentrate capital in living, infill industrial, mixed-use properties, data centers, powered land and real estate credit.

“The next phase of this cycle will not reward passive ownership of real estate,” Ng added.