The size of the global commercial real estate market is larger than previously thought, with more than $1 trillion in significant property sales across 75 countries and five continents, according to the new Global Capital Trends report released by Real Capital Analytics. \u00a0And because RCA only tracks sales greater than $10 million, the total size of the marketplace may be closer to $1.5 trillion, noted RCA founder & president Robert White. RCA is the first independent research firm to report on the global property markets. \u00a0Of the cities reported, 114 recorded more than $1 billion of commercial property sales, with 48 in North America, 35 in Europe and 21 in Asia. Office was the most active sector, representing $434 billion worth of sales. Nearly 1.2 billion square feet of property changed hands last year, equivalent to all of London, Tokyo and New York City combined, the report said. One of RCA\u2019s largest findings was that commercial property sales volumes in Asia could surpass those in either Europe or the Americas in 2008. As a result of the credit crunch, sales activity has slowed considerably in both North America and Europe, while Asia has been unaffected. And this credit crunch will further entice U.S.-based investors to look overseas. \u201cThere are so many opportunities off-shore,\u201d Steve Williams (pictured), RCA\u2019s international property consultant and former president of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, told CPN today. \u201cEverybody in the U.S. is talking about global allocations this year.\u201d He noted that Asia and Eastern Europe offer some of the biggest opportunities for U.S. investors. \u00a0Other report findings included: the risk premium for property ranges from 20 to 350 basis points, with the U.S. and Honk Kong as the least risky investment locations; half of all land acquisition last year was located in China, with $50 billion in transactions, double that of the United States; and corporate users capitalized on global investor demand with $88 billion worth of asset sales, with $56 billion of those as sale-leasebacks. As for 2008, Williams said the global marketplace will continue to see a surge in equity. \u201cWe won\u2019t see a commercial real estate market crash by any means,\u201d he said. The debt side will continue to see illiquidity for a while, while lenders take a back seat. And there is a battle being played between the central banks and whether they can impact the market as much as sovereign wealth funds, he noted. \u201cWe need certain coordination between the G7 and the finance ministries regarding monetary policies.\u201d Williams noted that for the past five years, RCA has been tracking transaction data domestically, \u201cbut the market has gone global on us,\u201d he said. \u201cThere have been much more cross-border transactions, so 18 months ago, we decided to take on the world. With difference protocols, currency conversions and different ways of looking at real estate, some said it couldn\u2019t be done. But especially with the subprime (crisis), there is an appetite for this information.\u201d \u00a0The sales tracked in the repport include office, industrial, retail, apartment and hotel properties as well as developable land for them. RCA also noted that the availability and reliability of property sales information varies greatly by country and even within certain countries. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The size of the global commercial real estate market is larger than previously thought, with more than $1 trillion in significant property sales across 75 countries and five continents, according to the new Global Capital Trends report released by Real Capital Analytics. \u00a0And because RCA only tracks sales greater than $10 million, the total size…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37301],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003710648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n