Israel accounted for the second-largest source of foreign capital in the US real estate market last year, according to Savills’ Capital Markets report.
The report, released at the ICSC conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, this week, revealed that Israelis spent more than $1.1bn (£680m) on US property last year, up from just $54m in 2009.
The increase makes the country the second-largest investor in the US after Canada.
Gerry Mason, executive managing director of Savills US, said: “Companies such as [Israeli-based] Big Shopping Centres have put several hundred million dollars into joint ventures with a REIT, Ohio-based Developers Diversified, to make new investments and to do new developments, which is almost unheard of in the US as retailers have a hard time committing to new space.”
The report said that the massive increase in spending by Israeli investors was owing to the relative stability of US markets, the recovery in market fundamentals over the past year, the favourable exchange rate and the close political and economic ties between the two countries.
Total transaction volumes in the US grew by 127% last year to more than $124bn. Cross-border transactions increased by 138% to more than $10bn.
noella.piokivlehan@estatesgazette.com
