The number of German institutional investors with properties in North America in their portfolios has more than doubled compared with three years ago.
According to Feri EuroRating Services, a reallocation of real estate investments by German institutional investors has been taking place since 2012, with the US becoming increasingly popular.
The share of investors with properties in North America has increased from 6% to 15.3%.
At the same time, the share of properties in Western Europe has dropped from 13.4% to 8.7%.
Feri noted this region was “losing its significance at the same rate North America is gaining”.
According to the researchers, German institutional investors have reacted very early on to the increasing dollar strength and the weakening of the euro, as well as the high growth potential of the US-American real estate market.
The study found that US apartments and retail properties had performed best since the crisis.
Industry and office real estate is also mirroring the recovery of the US property market, with only the hotel segment is lagging behind.
Feri said it was convinced the trend for German institutions to invest in North America would continue due to the expected growth in the US economy over the medium term.
Meanwhile, real estate consultancy association IVD reported a surge in real estate transaction volumes in Germany for 2014.
Almost reaching €200bn last year, transaction volumes increased by 6.5%, as the German real estate market is “booming”, according to Jürgen Michael Schick, vice-president at IVD.
He added Germany was still considered a safe haven by investors, given the “comparatively high returns as well as the political uncertainties abroad”.
