MIAMI—Canadian dollars are flowing into the United States, seeking commercial real estate investments. Who better to ask about what's really going on than Avison Young, a Canadian firm that is rapidly expanding across the US and has a strong presence in Miami?

GlobeSt.com caught up with Dan Carlo, a principal with Avison and managing director of the firm's Miami office, to get his take on the capital flow from Canada. In part one of this exclusive series, he discusses what's driving the appetite among Canadian investors. Be sure to come back this afternoon for part two of this interview, then check back tomorrow morning for the final installment.

GlobeSt.com: Canadian dollars are flowing into the United States, seeking commercial real estate investments. Has that activity increased or decreased since 2012-2013?  

Carlo: Canadian investment in US real estate is way up! It surged from $9.5 billion in 2012 to nearly $12 billion in 2013—an increase of over 25%. For several years now, Canadian investors—both institutional and private—have been gobbling up US commercial properties at break-neck speed.  

Canadians, as a whole, have been the most active foreign investors in US real estate every year since 2010, and were never far behind before that. In fact, Canadian investors represented nearly one-third of the aggregate $90.6 billion that international buyers invested in US real estate during 2010-2013.

Numerous factors have driven that surge in Canadian demand. Among those are the relative value of US real estate, given depressed prices during the Great Recession we are just now coming out of. Also, Canadian property markets are smaller, and there simply was more Canadian capital pursuing attractive real estate assets in its home market than there were such assets available for purchase.  

Hence, that capital has been actively looking south of the border. Case in point: The Canada-based Artis diversified REIT, which weighted its $533 million in 2013 acquisitions 60% to Canada and 40% to the US During one of its recent analyst calls, Artis indicated a heavier weighting to the US in 2014 acquisitions.

Some early Canadian investors are starting to harvest gains, and Canadian REITs are now less active than before due to re-pricing in their public markets back home. But the pace of Canadian capital entering the US property marketplace remains robust.

GlobeSt.com: What is driving the appetite among Canadian investors?

Carlo: It is risky to generalize the motivation of Canadian investors because there are innumerable types of investors—insurance companies, pension funds, high-net-worth investors, REITs, et cetera—pursuing a plethora of investment strategies.  With that caveat, and in general, real estate is viewed very favorably in Canada, and the US is an attractive, familiar market, which still offers liquidity gaps. Canadians can fill these needs and obtain a premium over similar investments in Canada.