New data released has shown that American property investors have been increasingly targeting commercial real estate in Europe during the first half of 2012 in a move that seems to indicate an end to US investors being crowded out of the market.
Across Europe, the UK, Germany and France were the top three targets for US investors, according to a report issued by Real Capital Analytics released last week.
Managing director of Capital Analytics, Dan Fasulo, said: “The local players are struggling or are scared.”
The global commercial real estate market had $157 billion invested in it over the second quarter of the year, with new apartment building accounting for a large chunk of the market as people gain confidence in the market and new builds across the globe start to pick up.
The US itself has been experiencing a sustained commercial property revival, with property prices gaining month on month for most of this year. Many investors, both local and international, are seeing the American property market as a ‘safe haven’, with great interest from Japan, Korea, Mideast Gulf countries, China, Israel and The Netherlands.
Although there was a fall in commercial real estate at the start of 2012, with sales down 23% to $306.3 billion (a figure that is around $100 billion lower than 12 months earlier), the market is now starting to steady and investment is on the up again.
London was the top office investment market during the first half of 2012, while Tokyo came in second, New York third and Paris fourth.
