Washington Loses Ground in AFIRE Survey

WASHINGTON, DC-The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate has released its annual survey of global cities in which foreign real estate investors say they will invest–and Washington, DC is not in one of the top two positions as it usually is. Instead, the city is clocking in position four, after New York, London and San Francisco, and right before Houston. AFIRE’s 2013 survey is slightly different from years’ past for another reason as well: for the first time since 2001 when AFIRE began querying investors, it contains four US cities in the top five.

Being number four is hardly the end of the world for Washington, DC, but it does represent a setback, James A. Fetgatter, chief executive of AFIRE, tells GlobeSt.com. He attributes the drop to the fears surrounding the US budget crisis and the constant talk of reducing spending. “Whether that [spending cuts] will ever happen is a political question and anyone’s guess,” Fetgatter says. “But there is enough talk about it that there is concern among investors that there will be reduction in space needs among the federal government and federal contractors.”