CHINESE outbound investment in commercial real estate more than doubled in 2013 from a year earlier, with the US and the UK receiving most of the funds, a report showed.

The investments made by the Chinese mainland investors surged to US$7.6 billion in 2013, from US$3.3 billion in 2012 and US$2.9 billion in 2011, said the report by international property services provider Jones Lang LaSalle.

The US and the UK attracted Chinese investment of US$3.1 billion and US$2.3 billion respectively while in the Asia-Pacific Chinese investors pumped US$1 billion in Singapore real estate and US$700 million in Australia last year.

“The initial catalyst for this dramatic rise in outbound investment is the introduction of the ‘Go Global’ policy by the Chinese government, which has enabled and encouraged outbound investment across all sectors of the economy,” said Alistair Meadows, director and head of Jones Lang LaSalle’s international capital group in Asia-Pacific.

“As a consequence, insurance groups, developers and ultra-high net worth individuals have all increasingly sought to diversify their real estate portfolios internationally over the last 12 to18 months,” he added.

New York and London were the cities which attracted the most money from Chinese mainland investors in commercial real estate, the report found. The investors pumped US$2.9 billion in New York last year, a sharp rise from US$200 million in 2012. London, a favorite city for overseas investors, attracted US$2.1 billion from Chinese mainlanders in 2013.

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