Nearly two-thirds of family offices (FOs), for instance, are interested in real estate,[1] while 27 per cent are expecting to increase their investment in the asset class over 2023.[2] The US remains an attractive market, with 26 per cent of FOs planning to increase their allocations to US markets.[3]

Taken together, these findings suggest a big opportunity for the US real estate market. Anecdotally, FOs (particularly those with a strong nexus in Asia and the Middle East) have recently been looking with increasing interest at real estate in the US, a market that is considered relatively stable and offers good potential returns.

Meanwhile, with FOs currently sitting on good quantities of dry powder,[4] direct investment in real estate of significant value has become increasingly common. This includes both single and multiple units of commercial and residential property.

Accessibility

Having identified real estate as a desired asset class, the thought process then turns to the accessibility of the market and, compared to many other jurisdictions, the US market emerges well. Europe, in the broader sense, is comparatively more complex to access as a foreign owner, while the US (and North America more widely) ticks the box as a jurisdiction where: