Surge in portfolio deals drives demand for faster underwriting tech

A continued rise in large-scale portfolio transactions across the UK and Europe is putting pressure on investors to underwrite multi-asset deals faster and more accurately before bidding. Real estate investment modelling platform Pantera has reported a sharp increase in enquiries for portfolio modelling this year, as investors move away from single-asset deals. The trend is reflected in CBRE’s UK mid-year review, which found that portfolio sales accounted for 46% of investment volumes in the first half of 2025. The growing share of portfolio activity is being fuelled by renewed private equity appetite and the emergence of distressed-debt opportunities, as investors reposition around scale and value. Pantera chief executive Caleb Dunn said: “We’re seeing more demand for portfolio transactions being brought to market, and the pace and complexity of these deals mean investors are struggling to efficiently and effectively underwrite opportunities on manual spreadsheets – they need systems that can keep up.” The same pattern is emerging across continental Europe, with JLL reporting that Germany’s portfolio transaction volumes rose 26% to €5.3bn in the first half of the year, while single-asset volumes fell. Modelling portfolio opportunities involves handling large datasets and dynamically adjusting underwriting assumptions to deliver a single, integrated view across income-producing and development assets. “In a market where you might be assessing 40 assets in a single portfolio, the question isn’t whether your model works – it’s whether it updates quickly enough to make a decision with confidence before the opportunity is lost,” Dunn said. Notable recent portfolio transactions include Blackstone’s £200m acquisition of 18 last-mile logistics assets from PGIM Real Estate, the €300m sale of a diversified Spanish portfolio by Axa IM Alts, and Slate Asset Management’s €100m purchase of six retail properties in Germany. Since launching in 2021, Pantera has modelled more than £150bn of transaction scenarios for over 200 monthly active users, with clients including Colliers, Caisson iO and Hammerson, alongside private investors and niche advisers. Image: ©Adobe Stock