Out of $132 billion in global commercial real estate investment in the first half of 2010, 43 percent involved cross-border activity, International Business Times reported.
 
That’s up from 31 percent in the first half of last year, a period that saw $76 billion in global investment, according to a study by research firm Jones Lang LaSalle.
 
So far this year, the United Kingdom, which in 2010 has attracted $7 billion in investments during the first two quarters, has emerged as the most popular destination for cross-border investment.
 
Germany pushed the United States out of the top spot to No. 3 as cross-border investments return to pre-recession levels. Japan, Australia and Sweden are among the top 10 destinations.
 
Europe accounted for the highest volumes of cross-border activity.
 
“After the retrenchment in 2008 and 2009 of many investors to their domestic markets, 2010 has seen a bounce back to pre-crisis proportions of cross-border activity,” said Richard Bloxam, head of Pan-EMEA Capital Markets at Jones Lang LaSalle.
 
“Total volumes, whilst recovering markedly year on year, remain subdued in comparison to 2007,” he said.
 
The trend is expected to continue for the remainder of the year.
 
“This reflects a general market pickup as confidence improved, a return to the globalization of real estate investment and a search for value by investors,” the Jones Lang LaSalle study said.