Canadians Take Manhattan As Real Estate Purchases Reach Record

Canadians are invading Manhattan.

The country’s largest real estate investors have bought a record $3.85-billion (U.S.) in property this year in the New York city borough and spent more than any other foreign country in the last decade, according to data from Real Capital Analytics Inc.

The purchases by Canadian investors such as pension funds, insurers and asset managers are double the $1.97-billion bought in 2014 and have surpassed the previous peak of $2-billion in 2007. The investments include the headquarters of 21st Century Fox and Hudson Yards, the biggest private real estate development in U.S. history.

Some of New York’s most iconic properties are owned by Canadians. The headquarters for Robert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is co-owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge Inc., the real estate arm of the Caisse.

Oxford Properties Group Inc., a unit of OMERS, and its partner New York-based Related Cos. are developing Hudson Yards, 17 million square feet (1.62 million square meters) of commercial and residential space that includes five office towers and 5,000 residences, according to its website.

Reference: The Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/canadians…/article26580988/