Foreign Wealth Funds are looking to the US as the next emerging market. The combination of lots of foreign cash and a low value of the dollar make investing in the US a no-brainer. See this article for more info…
What does this mean for commercial real estate? Two things: 1) Investment sales will begin to pick up. We are already seeing foreign investors in the larger US cities (NYC, LA, etc.) and it won’t be long before we see them in “smaller” markets. And 2) investors wanting to get their feet wet in the US market but not ready to dive in head first, will pursue joint ventures, private equity placements and lending as a way to enter the market.
Within the last year, I’ve seen several large European banks lending in the Seattle area for the first time. This is in addition to a handful of foreign investors/lenders that have been here for the last decade.
