NYSE-listed Cushman & Wakefield has published its annual ‘Winning in Growth Cities’ which examines global commercial real estate investment activity, assessing cities by their success at attracting capital. According to the company that made its stock exchange debut this year, despite geopolitical uncertainty and a slowing in the economic cycle, investment in the global property market has seen a significant rise of 18% year-on-year to a new record high of $1.8 trillion (up from $1.5 trillion the previous year).
Growth in commercial real estate investment is being led by Asia, both as a source of capital and as an investment destination, with investment in Asia accounting for 52% of all activity and Asian buyers responsible for 45% of all cross-border investmentt.
According to the report «the hegemony of Europe at the top of the city rankings for cross border players was only dented by Hong Kong, buoyed by several massive deals in the office sector. Alongside Hong Kong, the biggest winners among gateway cities for cross border buyers were Paris and Tokyo; but a number of smaller European cities also rose strongly in the rankings, such as Helsinki, Vienna and Madrid.»
Multi-family residential assets seem to be taking a more prominent place in the portfolios of institutional investors with growth of 14.2% year on year in Europe to a total of $45.8 billion until Q2 of 2018. Residential developers are expected to enjoy growing demand as the over-heating of certain residential markets have made it more difficult for first time buyers to secure a home and demand continues to be strong. In fact, the report states that «in Asia, co-living style facilities are on the rise in the Philippines, and there is a push for multi-family development in Bangkok, as well as Ho Chi Minh City».
The capital of the property world continues to be New York, followed by Los Angeles and London, with Paris up strongly to snatch 4th place from San Francisco and ahead of Hong Kong, which has risen to fifth. In fact, London takes first place when it come to cross-border transactions (growing 22% year on year) above New York which slipped from 2nd to 6th place mainly due to high pricing and the strong dollar.