Real estate investment volumes in London are down 45 percent from a year ago.
Los Angeles has outshone London to become the world’s second most active city for cross-border real estate investment sales in the first quarter of 2016, according to a report by Estates Gazette, which used data compiled by Real Capital Analytics.
In the first three months of this year, LA recorded over US$7 billion worth of sales, compared to US$6.4 billion in London.
New York topped the list of 30 global cities for sales activity, with volumes reaching a whopping US$14.2 billion in Q1, double that of LA.
Rounding out the top five cities are San Francisco (US$5.7 billion) and South Florida (US$4.9 billion). Other major US cities in the top 10 are Washington DC, Boston, Denver and Chicago.
Emily Wright, Global Editor at Estates Gazette, said: “In an uncertain world, the US continues to perform extremely well when it comes to real estate investment and development activity.
“North American cities dominate this latest league suggesting they are among the most attractive in the world among both domestic and overseas investors.”
Tom Leahy, Director of Market Analysis, Real Capital Analytics, said: “The first quarter investment volumes show New York remains the biggest real estate market in the world, but in a change from the pattern established since the end of the financial crisis, LA has leapfrogged London to take second place.
“This emphasises the worse than average start to the year in London, where volumes are down 45 percent versus Q1 2015.
“The EU referendum is causing some investors to take a breather after a record 2015, but other factors such as record pricing and external macroeconomic risks have also had a negative effect on market activity.”
Source: Real Capital Analytics
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
