Middle-East Investors Spurn U.S. Real Estate (New York Excepted, Of Course)

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By Dana Rubinstein

July 28, 2008 | 5:22 p.m

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Grufnik via flickr.

Marquee New York properties notwithstanding, foreign investors are fast losing interest in an American commercial real estate market increasingly buffeted by the credit crisis.

According to an Associated Press report published in today's International Herald Tribune:

"Middle East investment is expected to be flat or down this year compared to a banner year in 2007. More than half way through the year, Mideast investors have shelled out $2.7 billion for U.S. assets, according to Real Estate Analytics Inc., a New York-based real-estate research firm. But at that pace, this year's total sales will likely fall far below last year's $8.2 billion in deals."

Of course, at the risk of inflating New York's often irritating sense of exceptionalism, New York City is indeed a different matter when it comes to foreign investment.

As the article points out:

"Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, bought a 75 percent stake in the Chrysler Building for an estimated $900 million. In June, Dubai-based Meraas Capital LLC was part of a joint venture that bought the General Motors Building for about $2.8 billion...

New York ranked as the top spot worldwide for foreign commercial real estate dollars, according to a survey conducted in the fourth quarter of last year, up from No. 2 the year before. The survey was released in January by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate."