Cross-border capital circles the globe

A total $188.5 billion in outbound capital went into real estate in the 12 months to third quarter 2018, according to Knight Frank’s most recent Cross-Border Investor Dashboard, which cites data from Real Capital Analytics. Of that amount, $68.5 billion was from Europe, $67.9 billion from North America, $42.6 billion from Asia Pacific and $9.5 billion from the rest of the world.

At $48 billion, the majority of cross-border capital flows were from Europe to other parts of Europe during the 12 months to third quarter 2018. The remainder of Europe’s total $68.5 billion in outbound investment went to North America ($17 billion) and Asia Pacific ($3.3 billion).

All told, however, the United States received the largest influx of the $907.3 billion in global transaction volume in the same 12-month period, at $60 billion, followed by the United Kingdom ($26 billion) and Germany ($17 billion).

Of North America’s $42.6 billion in cross-border capital, $29 billion went to other parts of North America, while Europe and Asia Pacific received $26 billion and $13 billion, respectively.

Investment volumes from Asia Pacific were more evenly split, with $15 billion remaining in the region and North America and Europe garnering $14 billion and $13 billion, respectively.

According to the report, office assets remain most sought after by investors, and saw $103.4 billion in cross-border investment activity in the 12 months to third quarter 2018. This represents 37 percent of the total volume. Retail, which has been supported by corporate activity, came in second, with $65.0 billion (23 percent), followed by industrial ($50.9 billion, 18 percent), apartment ($38.1 billion, 14 percent), hotel ($21.1 billion, 7 percent) and senior housing and care assets ($2.8 billion, 1 percent).

The top 10 most active cross-border cities during this 12-month period were: (1) Central London, (2) Manhattan, (3) Los Angeles, (4) Berlin, (5) Outer London, (6) Amsterdam, (7) Seoul CBD, (8) Paris Central, (9) Frankfurt and (10) Chicago.