Real estate in America had been relatively sound given the current general uncertainty of the global economic climate. James Kuhn, president of real estate service giant Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, stated that notwithstanding the monetary and geopolitical risks as many countries, the United States continued to attract capital as both a stable haven and one with better returns than other markets globally.
Kuhn said that with over $80 billion going to the U.S. in 2015, including 60 percent from China, Canada, Singapore, Norway and the UAE, it had filled the gap in core and core-plus investments, while most investors previously occupying that space were looking towards secondary markets or taking back the entirety as mediocre yields in the gateway areas that were becoming problematic.
The real estate in America was further explained by a RICS press release which mentioned that regular flows that crossed borders and oceans, the controlled risk was even more relevant and significant as real estate investment became increasingly expansive. Despite the uncertainties, real estate was seen as a generally safe area in the complex global investment market. Therefore, real estate investment decisions affected many more individuals, with an increasing share of retirement funds and bigger investment fund asset groups turning to real estate for security. TIAA, for example, acquired a real estate division, according to a feature from Appraisal Buzz.
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers pointed out that the investment occupation itself had taken significant steps to reduce risk.
Real estate professionals who took the long view by pushing clients not to buy at unsustainable peaks or selling at record lows helped dampen the inevitable shifts between optimism and pessimism that characterized every asset markets, real estate included. RICS released a statement with the goal of drumming up interest for an upcoming event, the 2016 Summit of the Americas. Summers will be a speaker there, according to a feature from Houseing Wire.