Global institutions hungry for yield are continuing to keep a laser focus on the U.S. real estate market.

“The players and the deck chairs may move a little bit, but we expect continued robust trading activity into the United States,” says Chris Ludeman, global president, capital markets, at CBRE. According to CBRE, the United States accounted for nearly half of global commercial real estate investment volume in 2019. More favorable hedging costs, coupled with a global search for yield in alternative investments, are expected to produce a strong year of cross-border acquisitions in 2020.

Although a broad mix of capital sources is active in the United States, it is notable the top 10 buyers accounted for nearly 80 percent of all cross-border acquisitions in 2019, according to CBRE. Canada has consistently been a dominant buyer, and Canadians accounted for nearly one-third (31.1 percent) of all international acquisitions this past year. Others in the top five, accord