Foreign REITs hold potential for rapid growth
 

NEW YORK – Jan. 9, 2007 – Real estate markets in other parts of the world continue to offer big opportunities for investors, says Steven Carroll, co-chief investment officer at CB Richard Ellis Global Real Estate Securities.

“We don’t think the U.S. REIT market is played out; it will continue its upward growth, but we think the growth will escalate at a much more rapid pace overseas as more markets become securitized,” Carroll says.  

Since 1994, when only three countries other than the United State allowed REITs (real estate investment trusts), 13 more have put the structure in place, according to UBS Investment Bank. About a dozen other countries have the legislation under consideration.  

Meanwhile, a recent report by Ernst & Young suggests that the rest of the globe is poised to surpass the United States by 2008 in terms of total capitalization. REIT markets in Australia, France, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore and Hong Kong, it says, are driving much of the new growth.

“If you’re an investor, it may well be a great opportunity to diversify,” says Dale Anne Reiss, the global leader of Ernst & Young’s real estate practice. “You can really play the real estate market more effectively now.” 

Source: The New York Times, Vivian Marino (01/07/2007)
 

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