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Best Places to Invest Foreign Real Estate

The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE), annually tracks the best places to invest according to its members. The group is a non-profit trade association and represents some 200 investors from around the world with over $700 billion US in overseas real estate.

While some markets are seeing definite downturns, such as the US and UK, these are often places where investors will turn in times of instability as the long-term prospects for them are quite good. As such, New York and London occupy the top two spots on AFIRE’s investment list, with Washington, DC and Paris just below them.

Additionally, markets in Asia have a lot of upside according to AFIRE’s members. Japan, for example, has very low inflation – currently around 1% - and the banking sector seems to have recovered from its meltdown several years ago and is now stronger than Western banks. For return on investment, the Asian cities also have a lot to offer, with great properties to let and a steady income stream available.

In recent years, many emerging markets, such as in Eastern Europe, have been hotspots for property investors. But, as the economy slows, people want a more stable place in which to put there money.

“Lots of people believe that there is a compression of yields around the world in some of these emerging countries," says Jim Fetgatter, chief executive of AFIRE. "You're better off going to one of the well-established, transparent markets than some other place that has a lot of risk, where you're not being compensated for that risk."

The top ten, according to AFIRE:

1. New York City

2. London

3. Washington, DC

4. Paris, France

5. Shanghai, China

6. Tokyo, Japan

7. Singapore

8. Munich, Germany

9. Sydney, Australia

10. Hong Kong

01/08/2008