Cross-border commercial real estate investments by Asian investors reached a first-quarter record of $8.7 billion, with the U.S. market attracting almost 40% of the total, CBRE Group announced Wednesday.
The latest quarterly figure was up 34% from the first quarter of 2014, said Maybelyne Ng, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for CBRE.
U.S. real estate garnered $3.3 billion, boosted by Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group’s purchase of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95 billion.
Europe garnered $2.5 billion in first-quarter inflows, followed by $1.5 billion for Australia and New Zealand, and $1.4 billion of intra-Asia deals, a CBRE news release said.
Marc Giuffrida, executive director, CBRE’s global capital markets group, said real estate targets attracting growing interest from Asian investors now include alternative segments such as student accommodation, health care and aged care.
