Global property investment reaches post-financial crisis high – Cushman & Wakefield
Global property investment has reached its highest level since 2008, new research shows, with New York and London holding on to the top spots as the world’s most sought after cities.
According to Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), investment volumes rose by 16 per cent to $942.8bn (£621.4bn) in the year to June – just 13 per cent below the pre-crisis peak.
The property advisory group predicts global volumes for the current year to rise by 17 per cent to hit a new record high of $1.1trillion, driven by investors targeting North America and Europe.
New York snagged the top spot for the fifth consecutive year, with volumes growing by 36.2 per cent year-on-year to $74.8bn, giving it a 7.9 per cent share of the global market.
In second place, London investment volumes surged by 13.4 per cent from $48.7bn to $55.2bn, taking its market share to 5.9 per cent.
However, the capital remained the top city for foreign buyers. Cross-border investment hit $38.2bn, which was 152 per cent ahead of New York, the second biggest target market.
Tokyo, Los Angeles and San Francisco made up the rest of the top five. Overall, US cities dominated the rankings and accounted for 14 of the 25 cities included in C&W’s survey.
“Europe is still a magnet for capital from all regions, but North America has actually been the fastest growing target for foreign capital – a fact reflected in the dominance of US cities in this year’s report,” David Hutchings, head of EMEA investment strategy at C&W said.
“Outward investment by US players is also dominating global capital flows, accounting for 42 per cent of all foreign investment between regions in the past year,” he added.
The top global buyers by country were the USA, Singapore, Canada, China and Norway.