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Foreign investors bank on Houston as a hot commercial real estate market
Houston is in the midst of a residential real estate "buying bonanza." Now, a new report reveals that the Bayou City is no slouch when it comes to commercial real estate, as well.
In a recent survey released by AFIRE, an industry group for real estate investors, Houston tied for No. 14 on the list of cities favored by foreign real estate investors. Last year, Houston sat at No. 12.
Elsewhere in Texas, foreign real estate investors favored Austin over any other U.S. city for buying property in 2021. Boston ranked second, with Dallas in third place. San Antonio tied for No. 15.
In this year’s survey, foreign real estate investors chose apartment buildings as their favorite property type, with warehouses landing at No. 2.
Mike McDonald, vice chairman of commercial real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield, recently told The New York Times that Austin is “the hottest market in the country right now.”
“Commercial transactions are likely to pick up in the second half of 2021 and in 2022 as more people get vaccinated, more businesses operate at higher capacity, personal leisure and business travel pick up, and consumer spending rises,” the National Association of Realtors noted in a first-quarter report about Austin’s commercial real estate market.
Speaking of the Capital City, this is the first time in the 30-year history of the AFIRE survey that a city as small population-wise as Austin has topped the list or even showed up in the top three. Twenty-three percent of those questioned in the survey put Austin in the No. 1 spot, and 33 percent ranked Austin first, second, or third.
