While investors are engaged, market challenges persist 35 min read
Allens and Infrastructure Partnerships Australia are pleased to jointly present the 2025 edition of the Australian Infrastructure Investment Monitor.
It marks the 10th edition of this research, which remains the most comprehensive sector-wide analysis of the trends, issues and opportunities facing current and prospective investors in Australian infrastructure. This year’s report provides an important temperature check of investor sentiment towards the Australian infrastructure market against a number of market challenges that risk undermining Australia’s comparative advantage.
Australia has a deep pool of private investment eager to participate in infrastructure—the challenge lies in ensuring there are sufficient investable projects to match appetite and that market settings, policies and investment programs are appropriately calibrated to attract and retain investment.
Key findings
- 85% of those surveyed are highly likely to invest in Australian infrastructure over the next three years.
- Overall confidence in the likelihood of the market providing sufficient opportunities to meet respondents’ needs has strengthened, with 78% expecting the market will likely meet their needs over the next three years, up 10 percentage points from 2024 and 20 points from 2023.
- Energy assets again dominate investor preferences, with grid storage and firming ranked highest (81%), followed by transmission and distribution (74%) and renewable generation (70%).
- Data centres have entered the top tier of assets, ranking joint third (70%) alongside renewable generation as investors increasingly view them as core infrastructure.
- Investor appetite for transport infrastructure has rebounded, with interest in airports up 25 percentage points, tunnels and bridges up 24 points, roads up 22 points and precincts and intermodal terminals up 21 points.
- Access to reliable and scalable power supply (52%) and access to suitable land (37%) were identified as the biggest challenges to investment in digital infrastructure, including data centres.
- Preference for regulated assets (33%) has overtaken unregulated (26%) for only the second time in the last decade.