There is a burning interest in China and India but US real estate continues to top the global property market stakes among foreign investors, according to the annual survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE).
There is a message in the findings because Washington-headquartered AFIRE always gets it straight from the horse’s mouth — nearly 200 of its members collectively hold $700 billion in cross-border real estate.
Interestingly, the resilience of the US real estate market among seasoned international investors is underscored by the timing of the survey, conducted after the credit crunch and sub-prime crisis. However, the dominance of the US real estate market is being challenged by opportunities in Asia. Survey respondents said they planned to increase spending on global real estate by 20% in 2008, compared to 16% in US acquisitions.
India first figured in AFIRE’s survey in 2005 and rocketed to second place last year. AFIRE chief James Fetgatter said China beat India to third spot this year in the rankings of countries that offer the best opportunity for capital appreciation in real estate due to creaky infrastructure.
Bangalore and Mumbai ranked in the association’s top 25 global cities to invest in. New York, Washington, London, Paris and Shanghai were among the top five global cities.
Meanwhile, Wall Street’s Merrill Lynch touted enormous real estate investment opportunities in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. “The real estate sector in India has been growing at 30% over the last couple of years and the growth is expected to continue,” it said in a report released on Tuesday.
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