The European economic crisis may have kept away local players from investing in real estate ventures but steady deals in UK, Germany and France have stabilized Europe's commercial realty.
According to the latest research by global property adviser C B Richard Ellis, commercial real estate investments in France and the UK rose in Q2 2012, as compared with both Q1 2012 and Q2 2011.
"The Q2 2012 activity shows a substantial shift in national trends compared to those that have been evident over the last couple of years. The main beneficiaries were France - largely as a result of three major transactions - and to a lesser extent the UK, with both markets recording higher levels of transactions in Q2 2012 compared with both Q1 2012 and Q2 2011," the report said.
London and Paris are seeing high levels of office investment transactions.
Interestingly, U.S. investors are the leading buyers of Europe's commercial realty sector, Reuters reported quoting Real Capital Analytics. The study put UK, Germany and France as the top three targets for cross border investment, with the U.S. being a major money source. "The local players are struggling or are scared," said Dan Fasulo, Real Capital Analytics managing director.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is still seen as a safe haven for overseas real estate investments, according to the real estate search company Trulia.com.
Foreign buyers from Canada, China, Mexico, India and the U.K. represent the highest percentage of foreign investors in U.S., says National Association of Realtors.
For the year ending March, international home buyers accounted for 4.8 per cent of total U.S. sales. The National Association of Realtors put the total sales volume at $82.5 billion, up from $66.4 billion in the previous year.