Survey: U.S.A. favorite investment target, Germany in second place
In 2009, international lenders and investment companies are planning considerably higher investments in real estate worldwide than last year; the favorite investment target is the U.S.A. According to a current poll taken among members of the AFIRE Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, lenders want to raise their investment volume by 54% globally and by 58% in the U.S.A.; at the same time, 40% more real estate investments are planned worldwide, and 73% more in the U.S.A. Of those polled, 53% see the U.S.A. as the country which offers the most stable and secure property investments. Germany and Switzerland follow in second place with 11.3% each, followed by Australia and Canada, each favored by 4.8%. As for the most popular cities, Washington, D.C. is in the lead, followed by London, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai. Commissioned by AFIRE, the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the University of Wisconsin in Madison polled the approximately 200 members of the organization during the fourth quarter of 2008. The participants in the poll hold some $1 trillion in property investments; about $371bn of this sum are invested in the U.S.A.