The company behind UKREiiF, the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum, is taking its investment matchmaking model abroad for the first time, announcing a UKREiiF Australia event with a 2027 launch planned, according to the organisers.
The new gathering will replicate the formula that has made the Leeds forum the UK’s largest real estate and infrastructure event, connecting international and domestic investors, developers and occupiers with regeneration and growth opportunities across Australia’s states, cities and towns.
Why Australia, and why now
Nathan Spencer, Founding Director and Managing Director of UKREiiF, said: “Australia is entering an extraordinary period of growth, and the global players within our industry are frequently discussing the opportunities coming forward in the country.”
The ambition, he added, is “to create something genuinely different for the Australian market”, describing “a major international festival that tells the stories of each state, city and town across Australia, and one that builds the relationships that see global capital deployed and projects moved forward”.
The organisers say the event will span the full built environment, from commercial, residential, transport, infrastructure and retail through to emerging sectors including renewable energy, digital infrastructure and defence.
That breadth mirrors where global capital is heading. Knight Frank’s Active Capital research tracks cross-border real estate flows, and Australia has become a consistent target for international money hunting growth markets beyond Europe and North America.
A £4 billion track record
The expansion rests on numbers that have made UKREiiF hard to ignore since its 2022 debut.
“Since launching UKREiiF in 2022 we’re aware of over £4billion of investment and development activity either at planning or spades in the ground stage all as a direct result of introductions and discussions held at UKREiiF and we’re excited to bring this model and event to Australia to have a similar impact,” Spencer said.
The three-day forum drew more than 17,000 delegates in 2026, according to the organisers. It generates over £20 million a year for the economy of Leeds and West Yorkshire, has created more than £7 million in social value, and showcases over £300 billion of investable UK opportunities annually.
That scale reflects a wider pattern of capital seeking out UK real estate, from the record surge in US investment into UK commercial property to the foreign investors moving into UK buy-to-let as domestic landlords retreat.
What the UKREiiF Australia event will cover
Matt Christie, Founding Director and Director of External Affairs at UKREiiF, said the event “will build on the principles that have driven UKREiiF’s growth, including its festival-style, strong public and private sector participation and focus on connecting places and projects with investors, development partners and the wider built environment who are so crucial to making successful schemes happen”.
Beyond the traditional sectors, Christie pointed to housing, renewable energy and the energy transition, digital and AI infrastructure, social infrastructure, major sporting and cultural districts, and the creation of successful city precincts as themes for the Australian edition.
He added that the organisers would keep “the core values we’ve had so close to our heart with UKREiiF, from sustainability to diversity and inclusion”.
What this means for investors
For UK landlords and portfolio investors, the immediate impact is limited, but the direction of travel matters. UKREiiF has become the room where councils, developers and institutions strike the deals that shape regional markets, and an Australian sister event extends that network to a market British capital is already eyeing.
It also signals confidence that the place-based investment showcase, pioneered in Leeds, is exportable. Investors weighing exposure beyond the UK, whether through funds or direct interest in overseas markets, now have a new fixture on the calendar where Australian states and cities will be pitching directly for their money.
