CRE Market Gone Global

The internationalization of real estate has gone truly global, according to two research reports released in Cannes, France, where more than 20,000 real estate professionals from all over the world are attending MIPIM, the International Property Market.A third of the world's transactions -- some $475 billion worth in 2005, an increase of 21% from the previous year's level -- were cross-border deals, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's report. "Investors are searching further and further from their home bases," said Tony Harrel, chief executive officer of the firm's International Capital Group. A report covering the 15 European Union countries by CB Richard Ellis, though smaller in scope, found a similar phenomenon. While purchases by investors within their own countries rose by just over 20% last year compared with 2004 levels, cross-border acquisitions increased by more than 70%, the firm said. "There's been a big increase in the amount of capital moving around the European market, with a significant increase in the amount coming into Europe from the outside," said Nick Axford, who heads the Ellis firm's research and consulting department. "Across the board, real estate really is now an international market."