Foreign investors warm to U.S. real estate

By JONATHAN LANSNER

Global real estate investors are warming to investment in the United States again. So says 19th annual survey of property money managers with worldly outlooks by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real 
Estate and the Graaskamp
 Center 
for 
Real 
Estate at the U. of 
Wisconsin. Highlights:

• 72% of those polled plan 
to 
invest 
more 
in 
the 
U.S. 
in 
2011
 vs. 
in
 2010.
• When asked the best market for appreciation, surveyed investors overwhelmingly named the U.S. more often than even the second-place nation -- China.
• 40% were more optimistic about U.S. opportunities vs. the start of 2010; 55% said they felt about the same.
• New
 York was the top American target for these investor, followed by 
D.C.; Boston
; San 
Francisco and Los 
Angeles. Both New York and D.C. grabbed triple the voting of any other U.S. city.
• What assets did they like for 2010? In order: Apartments; retail; hotel; office then industrial.
• James Fetgatter, AFIRE chief executive: "As the fear of a double-dip recession has faded, investors are becoming more enthusiastic about the prospects for the U.S. economy and are taking aim at real estate investment opportunities in the U.S. ... However, their strategy is more akin to a rifle than a shotgun. Except for multi-family housing, they are not scattering their interest throughout the U.S., but rather narrowly targeting it to New York City and Washington, D.C., to an even greater extent than in previous years.”