Canadian investors have been the most active buyers of U.S. real estate in the last 12 months, securing $19.63 billion in assets, according to a recent report from Real Capital Analytics (RCA). It's a familiar spot for the Great White North, which was also the top source of capital into the U.S. in 2017 and number two in 2016. China, which topped the list in 2016, sits fourth in volume for the past 12 months, at $5.48 billion. Singapore ($9.05 billion) and France ($8.66 billion) edged out China for second and third on RCA's list. Germany, with $4.33 billion in capital invested in the U.S., rounded out the top five.
Cross-border investment has continued at a strong clip despite an increase in protectionist measures, such as tariffs and tensions in trade agreement negotiations. According to RCA's report "These fears are genuine but sometimes also taken to extremes. This too shall pass.... Cross-border investors are, with some exceptions, focused on longer-term objectives and temporary roadblocks can be overlooked. Clearly these investors overlooked trade concerns in the first half of 2018."
Overall, cross-border investment is off its peak year of investment in the U.S. in 2015 with nearly $100 billion in volume, which accounted for about 17 percent of overall commercial real estate investment. The current numbers (based on trailing four-quarter data) amount to just more than $60 billion and around 12 percent of overall volume.
The following gallery includes the top 20 countries listed in RCA's report.
