Global property investment has risen 0.5% to $1.35tn (£1tn) in the past 12 months despite widespread uncertainty, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s annual Winning in Growth Cities report.
The top 25 gateway cities also increased their market share, drawing in 53.3% of all spending in the year to June, up from 52.7% last year.
Despite growth in the market, investment excluding development dipped for the first time in seven years to $919.7bn – a fall of 5.7%.
New York once again topped the list for total investment volumes and overtook London in cross-border investment. Volumes in the UK capital fell from $39bn to $25bn.
David Hutchings, head of EMEA investment strategy at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Despite the volatile environment, more investors are turning to the stable cash flow and inflation-hedging merits of real estate, particularly given that the fundamentals of the market on the occupier side are holding up well.
“The greater appeal of the US clearly comes out through the data, with its cities dominating in all sectors, and New York top for all investment and cross-border buyers.”
The study said that although Brexit has the potential to change the hierarchy of its list of top cities, Cushman & Wakefield did not expect any one city to make significant gains from the UK.
London losing its top spot in cross-border investment could be temporary, the study went on, as pricing starts to look more attractive and yields in other cities are pushed lower.
Overall cross-border investment from Europe fell 12.7% while Africa had the fastest growing stream of international investment, with growing demand from South African buyers pushing volumes up 135%.
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