The UK is the top country that private property investors are most likely to buy commercial real estate as more and more wealthy people consider it as an investment asset.
Overall private investors are already a strong presence in the commercial market and as a result are becoming an increasingly important force in the global real estate marketplace, according to the latest report from Knight Frank.
It says that 27% of all global commercial property transactions in 2016 involved a private buyer and a quarter of private wealth is held in real estate investments of some kind, excluding primary residences and second homes, which is the highest allocation since records began.
The report also reveals that 24% of wealthy individual portfolios are allocated to real estate and as private investors grow in importance, institutional investors are realising that they are a key buyer type whose drivers are often very different to their own and need to be understood as they are likely to either be competing against them in a purchase negotiation or trying to sell to them as part of an exit.