New York overtook London as the No. 1 destination for real-estate investment for the first time since 2007 after improved access to financing and mortgage lending spurred more U.S. deals.
Investments grew 166 percent to $29.7 billion in the New York area in the 12 months through August, compared with a year earlier, according to a report from global real estate experts Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Buyers are drawn to cities like New York and London because of a greater focus on the “biggest and best,” Cushman said in the report. The trend will continue in the next six months, it said, even despite the economic downturn, as the US government pumps money into helping banks offer mortgages in order to keep the economy afloat.
The report also found that other US cities are faring well when it comes to buyers investing in property. Chicago, New York, Boston and Atlanta made up four of the five fastest growing property investment markets by volume, the report said.
The findings follow another survey by New York realtors Prudential Douglas Elliman last week which found that sales have surged in the third quarter in New York and Manhattan in particular. “The dollar is cheap. They can get more for their money. And there's a great deal of confidence in New York,” commented Hall Willkie, president of luxury US real estate agent Brown Harris Stevens.
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