Increased Chinese investment in commercial properties: Colliers report

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Chinese investment in Metro Vancouver real estate is not a new phenomenon but a new report from Colliers finds a lot of the transactions are moving from homes to commercial properties.

“The wave of Asian investors in commercial deals has a lot of to do with our economy being perceived as safe and stable,” the report says.

Tsur Somerville with UBC says it’s a natural progression for investors to move from residential to commercial, but he feels foreign investment has been prevalent here for a long time.

“There’s been a lot of interest for a considerable amount of time by international real estate entities with lots of funds available to invest.”

Somerville says most of them are likely snapping up small to mid-size developments because that’s all that’s available for purchase. “We really have a shortage of product, the top real estate assets in this country are owned by pension funds that have shown really little desire to get rid of them.”