NAI Assesses Global Markets

NEW YORK CITY-The third annual Global Market Report was presented at the Plaza Hotel here July 17 by executives of brokerage services firm NAI. The mantra of real estate: location, location, location, takes on particular meaning when investors are looking for places to do business.

Stephen Atherton, vice president and managing director of NAI Asia Pacific, noted that political instability in Southeast Asia is posing formidable obstacles to investors. Indonesia’s president is facing impeachment, as is the newly elected prime minister of Thailand, the president of the Philippines was recently ousted and the country is facing assaults by Muslim extremists. Malaysia and Singapore face problems as well.

That unrest has led investors to seek refuge to the north in China, Japan and Taiwan. Over 80% of the mergers and acquisitions in Asia last year took place in northern Asia, more than a third of them in Japan. The huge Chinese population and the wealthy consumers of its northern neighbors are proving much more attractive to business than the political turmoil of Southeast Asia.