NEWPORT BEACH, CA—It's no secret that foreign investors are bullish on US realestate. But which foreign investors are having the biggest impacton our market, and why is real estate here so attractive to them?Kerry Vandell, director of the Center forReal Estate at UC Irvine, will be speaking about these andother subjects at this week's California Association ofRealtors conference in Los Angeles, “The RealEstate Summit: Partnering for Change,” along with otherrepresentatives for leading real estate research centers atCalifornia's top universities. We caught up with Vandell to discussthe issues he'll be broaching at the conference.

GlobeSt.com: What foreign investment dollars arehaving the biggest impact on US real estate?

Vandell: Traditionally, at least inrecent years, Canada has been the largest foreign investor in USreal estate, but there's been a real increase by the Asiancountries and the various funds from those countries. China andRussia have become big players, Singapore through its sovereignwealth funds, Malaysia and Australia. And Norway has recentlybecome one of the largest investors in US real estate through itssovereign wealth fund. Countries are making use of their oilrevenue and trying to put 5% into real estate—and more in US realestate recently.