Foreign Investment in US Industrials Hits High

CHICAGO—Foreign investment in American industrial assets has jumped again in the past year, eclipsing the amount invested in 2007, and Canadians led the way, according to a new report by Avison Young’s industrial capital markets group. Foreign investment in industrial property from January until mid-November totaled $2.64 billion, compared to $2.33 billion in 2007. Canadian investment totaled $1.4 billion for 101 properties and South Korean investors came in second, paying $514 million for 23 properties.

“The total volume of investment activity in the industrial sector has increased during each of the past three years, up from $2.13 billion in 2012 and $1.16 billion in 2011, according to Real Capital Analytics statistics analyzed in mid-November,” according to the report. And “the most active investors are from Canada, where each year from 2011 to November 2013 the total amount disbursed was greater than the dollar volume from all other countries combined.”