Thanks to lower vacancy rates and increased tenant demand lifting rent prices, 60 percent of real estate investors surveyed by Colliers International plan to make commercial property purchases in the next year[1]. This mirrors what many commercial experts have been predicting in light of the burgeoning rental market that, in many locations, is actually growing faster than multi-family housing units can be constructed to accommodate it. While most investors around the world plan to invest in their home markets, there are many who are at least considering a purchase abroad. For these international investors, the report indicates that Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, London, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco all have some global appeal.
While investors do still admit that the “real estate markets are unusually uncertain and will remain that way for some time,” the survey results indicated that real estate investor confidence has risen “considerably” from only six months ago. About 75 percent of investors now believe that a “double-dip recession” is unlikely and are feeling optimistic about the availability of financing in the coming year. As a result of this new confidence, real estate sales around the world have increased by 56 percent over the same period of time in 2009 in the sum of $379 billion. Investors are also reporting that they are finding rents for “offices, stores and warehouses” are also “rebounding from the bottom,” indicating that the worst – at least in the commercial market – could be behind us.
Do you think that the time has come to put some money in the real estate market, or are you still holding on to your savings?
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[1]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-08/most-real-estate-investors-plan-acquisitions-on-rising-rents-survey-says.html
